Rescue Me
by Jet Set Yoyo
Summary: Sarutobi Hiruzen had meant to finish what Minato had started in regards to Kakashi but found himself unable to do so. 19-year-old Kakashi wouldn't exactly call himself happy in life, content yes, all things considered. When a foreign shinobi appears in Konoha one night, Hiruzen finds his answer and Kakashi's life ends up upside down. No pairings. Mild/Brief Abused!Naruto warnings.
1. Chapter 1

Rescue Me  
By Jet Set Yoyo

Summary: Nineteen year old Kakashi wasn't exactly a happy person, not after everything he had been through, but he could at least say he was content with where he was in life at the moment. When a foreign Shinobi infiltrates Konoha in the dead of night Kakashi finds himself in an interesting position and everything in his life turns upside down. Bit of an AU but not quite.

Author Notes: The title is actually of a music video I was listening to and may likely be changed in the future. I haven't come up with something good yet. Also this is a plot bunny I needed to write down before I forgot it. I still have a million other stories I should be finishing right now. This may or may not be continued.

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The night was cool; perfectly crisp fall weather. The autumn leaves danced through the breeze raining a brightly colored rainbow onto the ground below. It wasn't late but most of the village had already settled in for the night, while others took the time to enjoy a bit of the night life. All was normal; quiet. One particular silver-haired teen had settled in for the night. Sitting atop his bed reading a book, the boy was dressed in pajamas save for the black cloth mask obscuring his face and a night cap covered his left eye leaving only one grey one to concentrate on his book. He rarely took it off and certainly not anywhere anyone could see.

A knock came from his window and one grey eye shifted upwards lazily. An ANBU member knelt outside his window waiting patiently for the teen to open it. He was clad in standard issue garb; black clothing with a grey flak jacket as well as a mask hiding his face. This one was of an otter. Kakashi set down his book and trudged to the window before sliding it open slightly, no particular rush to hear what the man had to say.

"What is it? This better be important; I've been given leave to rest and I really would like to catch up on my book," the teen grumbled through the cloth mask.

"Apologies Captain but there's an urgent summons from the Hokage. A foreign Shinobi has infiltrated the village," Otter explained and Kakashi stiffened for a moment before turning to change into his ANBU uniform. Otter continued, "A team has already been dispatched to his current location but the Hokage asked for you to be there as well. For some reason, this Shinobi is currently by the memorial stone."

"Shit," Kakashi cursed, wriggling into his black pants before snapping on his flak jacket. Lastly he slid his Dog mask over his face and flew out the window past Otter. "Let's go then."

Otter and Kakashi ran across the rooftops quickly, travelling to the outskirts of town where the cemetery and memorial stone were located. Up ahead the rest of the ANBU team were already in position, hidden behind rocks and in the tree branches. Kakashi slowed down and Otter broke off to join his team in the trees. They had the Shinobi surrounded.

As Kakashi got closer the foreign ninja came into view. A small child, barely five or six, with short silver hair seemed to have taken an interest in the memorial stone itself. The child ran his fingers across the smooth stone, feeling the ridges of the names etched forever into its surface. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the nearest ANBU incredulously which only earned him a shrug in return. The teen sighed, slightly annoyed. Even if this was a foreign ninja, which he seriously doubted from the lack of reaction to the presence of shinobi surrounding him, he was too green. While ANBU were masters at concealing their Chakra, Kakashi had briefly let his flare freely before reining it back in and there had been not even a twitch from the boy. He was far too young to be anyone of considerable skill; hardly a task the ANBU should have been dealing with. Sure Kakashi had been exceptional at the age of five but that's all it was; exceptional, not skilled. Skill came after training and experience of which this child looked far too young to have under his belt. Kakashi stepped out of his hiding place and into the clearing. Still the child seemed to take no notice. He advanced forward, stopping roughly twenty feet from the boy; far enough to dodge an attack but close enough to make his own.

"Maa, now what would a little foreign Shinobi be wanting with a list of our KIA?" Kakashi questioned, his voice a slight drawl. The child nearly jumped eight feet then whirled around with wide green eyes.

"I-I," stammered the little one, wringing the hem of his light blue tunic in his hands nervously. "I-I just was l-looking. I-I'm n-not a n-ninja. A-am I n-not s-su-supposed to be h-here?"

Kakashi sighed again. The Hokage must be going senile in his old age if he thought this jumpy little rabbit was a threat. It seemed unlikely the child was lying; he was visibly shaking from head to toe. Especially senile if he felt the assassination squad was the right men for the job as opposed to the police squad or heck, even a single Chunnin. The little boy took no comfort in the older boy's momentary silence, tears formed in his eyes.

"Generally foreign visitors are supposed to check in at the gate and state their business. Since no one knows who you are or why you're here, yes, you're not supposed to be here," Kakashi explained, crossing his arms over his chest. It was then that the teen noticed a sudden exorbitant amount of chakra leaking out of the child. His grey eyes narrowed and he reached for a kunai, "You're lying. No civilian has even half the amount of chakra you do."

"Ch-chakra? P-please, I-I'm really not a ninja. I d-don't know what you're talking about. Please don't hurt me, I'll be good. I promise," the child was virtually in hysterics now reduced to babbling incoherently through sobs. Tears streamed down his chubby cheeks and his hands clutched the hem of his tunic so tightly they were turning white. The chakra leaking from the boy took on a visible shape, swirling grey around him. This only served to put Kakashi further on edge. The child still didn't seem to be lying but the chakra surrounding him told otherwise and for once he couldn't quite decide what he should do. The ANBU squad made their advance, coming to surround the boy and back up the young captain.

"Let me through," an old rusty voice rang out from behind the squad. Kakashi and the others turned to see the Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, clad in his white robe and hat waving them away. The elder made his way through the pack of shinobi towards the panicked child. "Calm yourself child, if you answer honestly you won't be harmed. If you're not a ninja, what is this chakra you possess?"

The child hiccupped and wiped furiously at the tears in his eyes in an attempt to make them stop. For a moment he was unsuccessful but Hiruzen's patience and disarming smile made his second attempt more fruitful. The little boy gave one last little sniff before piping up, "I-I really don't know sir. Honest! Please, I'll be good. Don't hurt me."

"Well where did you come from?"

"I-I… don't know that either. I remember waking up in the forest and I just kept walking. Then it was night time and I saw the lights in the village and I just walked in. I didn't know I was supposed to tell anybody. I didn't have any money so I just came over here. I was going to find somewhere to sleep but I got distracted; this rock is pretty."

"Hn," Hiruzen grunted, internally weighing the prospect of the child's honesty. "What is your name? Also where are your parents?"

"I… don't know. I don't think I have a name or parents…"

"Troubling indeed. It would be difficult for someone with so little information about themselves to come to stay here in Konoha. Our village's security is of utmost importance," Hiruzen began, frowning lightly. The little boy started to shake again, working himself back up into another panic.

"Please sir-" He started but was quickly cut off by Hiruzen's raised hand signaling for his immediate silence.

"Let me finish child. I have no intentions of casting a young one such as yourself back out into the forest in the dead of night. While I cannot give you free reign, you'll have to earn it; you may stay on a trial basis. First you'll be taken to our interrogation squad to answer some more questions. Then you'll be assigned a guardian. If I feel that you are not a threat and can be a valuable asset to Konoha, your stay will be granted permanently if you desire. Otherwise you'll be released at the border."

The little boy was equal parts worried and ecstatic. An interrogation squad seemed ominous but he was already assured that if he told the truth they wouldn't hurt him. He peered up at the old man, biting his lip before giving the man a bright smile.

"Yes sir!"

"Good. Kakashi, escort the boy to Ibiki and Inoichi for questioning. In the meantime I'll decide where to place him if he's cleared."

"I'm a girl," the child huffed, puffing out her cheeks indignantly.

"Oho, is that so?" Hiruzen chuckled, patting the child lightly on the head. "My apologies child."

"S'ok. I don't mind," the girl grinned toothily. Kakashi still frowned, wondering just what exactly the Hokage was up to.

"Yes Hokage-sama," he replied automatically, not really willing to disobey a direct order. Hiruzen waved away the rest of the ANBU unit, who quickly shushined away to resume their assigned duties or retire for the night leaving the trio alone in the clearing.

"What's wrong Kakashi?"

"Nothing Hokage-sama. I'm just unsure of what to make of her. This chakra is odd and the amount unfathomable for such a young child. However if there's something to find, I'm sure Ibiki-san and Inoichi-san will be able to find it. I trust your judgment."

"I'm pleased to hear that Kakashi. Go now, I'm sure she's cold and hungry," Hiruzen smiled, patting the child's head again. With that he turned to leave as well, and the teen was left with the small girl. His grey eyes met her green ones as he scrutinized her one last time. The chakra had long since dissipated but he could still feel that enormous strength hidden within it. If the child was cleared, she might become a great asset to Konoha in the future. He figured the Hokage was likely thinking the same. Time would tell, Kakashi told himself willing himself to leave the subject alone.

"Mm, well c'mon now. I've got a book to finish."

Kakashi shoved his hands into his pockets and turned to leave; pausing briefly to make sure the kid was following him. She was half a step behind him, peering back up at him as he stopped. When he resumed she fell in step beside him and decided to gawk at everything they passed. The teen wondered for a moment if he should have blindfolded her but it was too late now. They passed shops; some beginning to close for the night devoid of customers and only the shopkeepers in the final stages of cleaning remained. Others already long closed, their windows dark and doors locked. Drunken civilians and shinobi wandered home, red cheeked and half asleep. Kakashi wondered if it really was already that late. It was too bad he would likely have to save his reading for the morning.

"Hey mister?"

"Hm?"

"What's that," the girl chirped, pointing off into the distance. Kakashi's one uncovered eye followed her pointing finger to the cliff overlooking the village; more specifically the faces carved into its side.

"Those are all the Hokages."

"And that old man was one of them? He's a Hokage?"

"Yes."

"Which one is he?"

"The Sandaime."

"But there's four up there… where the Yondaime?"

Kakashi froze, uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation. Talk of Minato-sensei was kept brief or non-existent around him. He himself would never speak of the man, the memories still too painful for the teen. Especially after losing his friends and teammates not that long before he lost his only remaining father figure as well. Though five years had passed, the wound hadn't closed. He merely shoved the pain so deep, masking it with indifference, and burying himself in his work.

"He's dead," Kakashi forced out finally, realizing the girl was waiting for an answer. Her eyes widened, and then softened with regret.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Don't worry about it. Let's go. I'm sure they're waiting for us and if we take too long someone will come looking."

"Ok…"

The rest of the walk was muted. For Kakashi the silence was welcomed; he preferred to keep out of useless small talk. For the child it only served to make her antsier. She was playing with the hem of her tunic again. Obviously a nervous habit, the silver-haired teen noted; children were so transparent. Inoichi was waiting outside interrogations, probably having just arrived himself since it was so late. The older male regarded the young girl with a pained smile. Interrogating children was an especially arduous task; one he would do without protest but that didn't mean he had to like it. It was difficult not see his own child in the faces of some of the children he had once interrogated. Inflicting pain on one who was supposed to be innocent was rarely rewarding and often a fruitless endeavor altogether.

"I'll take it from here. Go home and rest Kakashi, you look tired."

"Yes Inoichi-san. Thank you," Kakashi replied robotically, turning to leave.

"Thanks mister, uh, Kakashi-san!"

The little voice nearly startled the teen, not at all expecting a farewell from the child. He lifted a hand in a lazy wave and kept walking. Now that he thought about it, he really was tired. His book would definitely have to wait until the morning. Once he was home, Kakashi changed back into his pajamas and slipped a bookmark into place on the page he left off on before closing it up. He settled into bed and drifted into a light sleep. Maybe the nightmares would ease up tonight and let him get a decent rest. In recent years they had waned from their previous intensity. Before, when the death of his teammates and teacher were fresh in his memories, he had hardly slept a wink because of them. Even if he did sleep it was often restless and he awoke more tired than he was before. Now they only plagued him on occasion but still often enough to be a hindrance.

The next morning was quiet. Kakashi awoke to the sunlight on his face, warm from its concentration through the glass window. He almost didn't want to get up. Forcing himself from the warmth of his blanket, he slogged sleepily to the bathroom to relieve himself and take a much needed shower. Breakfast came next and he realized upon opening his refrigerator that he would need to go shopping sometime soon; he was almost out of food. There was barely enough left for a light breakfast consisting of miso soup, rice, eggs, and a grilled mackerel. The teen made a mental note to do some shopping later and dug into his meal.

Just as he was finished and ready to start washing the dishes, a knock came from his window. Kakashi shifted his gaze to see Otter once again kneeling outside. With a heavy sigh, mildly irritated he hadn't been able to enjoy his supposed time off without interruption, he opened the window.

"Now what?" He growled, though he held the irritation from his voice Otter knew that the young captain wasn't too happy to be called upon again.

"Hokage-sama requests your presence at his office immediately."

"Fine, fine. I'll be there soon. Dismissed."

"Yes sir." Otter shushined away, leaving Kakashi to grumble by himself in his apartment. The Hokage could wait a bit; Otter didn't say it was seriously important. With that the teen went to clean the dishes taking his time.

By the time Kakashi showed up to the Hokage tower it was an hour later. Hiruzen looked mildly displeased but otherwise made no remarks on the teen's tardiness. The child was there, sitting quietly in the corner drawing on some paper Kakashi noted. Hiruzen clear his throat, bringing Kakashi's attention back to the elder.

"There has been some interesting developments but nothing concrete at the moment," Hiruzen started, eying Kakashi curiously as the teen's gaze shifted again towards the small girl who was completely engrossed in her drawing. "Inoichi was unable to find much in the child's memories. However, he was met with a fierce resistance as he dug further. More specifically a creature in the child's mind pushed him out. Ibiki's questioning revealed just as much as we found out last night."

Kakashi frowned; Inoichi was unable to read the child's mind? Even the most seasoned Shinobi were unable to resist Inoichi's mind-transfer jutsu. Even more concerning was this creature.

"What kind of creature? How is that possible? A seal, or is she a-"

"I think so. However it is unlike any I've ever heard of. If so, this is not a typical Bijuu. In light of this information, we will keep her here. She will need to be watched as well as guarded. Whoever left her likely wanted her to come here but they may come looking for her if she fails to complete whatever mission she was sent for. Sending her away is now out of the question."

"But Hokage-sama!"

"Silence Kakashi," Hiruzen bellowed. Kakashi immediately closed his mouth and the little girl looked up briefly, staring warily at the pair of adults. After a moment Hiruzen continued, his voice softer, "I understand your concern Kakashi. After what happened before, this may be another attempt of the same. However we have no proof she even is one. Regardless she would be an asset. We'll make the best of this situation. I'm assigning you as her guardian. You're hereby relieved of your ANBU duties and returned to standard forces."

"Hokage-sama! I can't take care of a child!"

"You took care of yourself all these years just fine."

"That was… that was different sir. I don't know the first thing about children and you know I wasn't like any typical child."

"Neither is she. You'll be just fine Kakashi. This is not a request my boy, this is an order. There is no one else I would trust with such a tremendous task. I have faith in you, have some faith in yourself."

Kakashi couldn't find the words to try and convince Hiruzen that he was a terrible fit for caring for a child. The only excuses he could find were that he didn't want to, it was annoying, and he didn't know the first thing about how to raise a kid properly. Also being on missions often kept his memories at bay for at least a little while. Now what would he occupy his mind with? It seemed unlikely any of those would serve to change the stubborn old man's mind. The lazy teen sighed, slouching in defeat. He looked down by chance and was met by a pair of green eyes.

"So, I'm going to stay with you?" The girl blinked owlish-ly. Her voice held a slight nervousness to it.

"Indeed child, you'll be staying with Kakashi for the time being. He will keep you safe and care for you." Hiruzen chimed in before Kakashi could protest anymore, sending the young girl a warm smile.

"Yes sir. I'm ready when you are Kakashi-san."

All the way back to his apartment Kakashi tried his best to ignore the 'ooh's and ahh's' coming from the girl. It was as if she had never been in a village at all. Certainly nothing around merited such awe. Simple shops, simple people, heck she even ooh'd at a shrub in someone's front yard. At the same time he was ignoring her antics, he was scrutinizing her behavior. It was obvious to the teen she was wary of him; open enough that she would not be seen as a threat but still avoiding him as often as she could. He wondered briefly if he frightened her. All the better, she would leave him be and things could be relatively normal. Still, she was the oddest little thing he had ever seen. Perhaps he really didn't know anything about children, if she was so engrossed by the simplest of things. A faint feeling of warmth snapped him from his thoughts; a little hand was trying to grab his own and he jerked away like it was fire.

"Don't touch me," he snapped immediately regretting the words as they left his mouth. The girl shrunk back, dropping her hand by her side dejected. He fell silent again, letting her walk ahead of him. She feigned interest in her surroundings once more but with far less exuberance, he swallowed the twinge of guilt in the pit of his stomach.

Kakashi unlocked the front door of his apartment and stepped inside, removing his sandals and setting them aside neatly. The girl followed him in reluctantly, removing her own sandals before peering around the cozy room. It was simple, a bedroom with a small table off to the side. Off to one side was the door to a tiny kitchen with a kitchenette and a small refrigerator and immediately next to it was an equally small bathroom. Kakashi wondered briefly how he was supposed to care for a child in such a small space. What once was the perfect size seemed a lot more cramped with another person added in. The child didn't comment on the matter, if it was even thought of; she was busy inspecting the room and came to a stop in front of a small portrait on his nightstand. A trio of children smiled, sans one rather grumpy one and one cheery blond adult stood behind them. She went to pick the picture up.

"Don't touch that," Kakashi barked quickly, adding quietly, "It's very important to me."

"Oh, m'sorry. I'll be more careful," she apologized. Looking thoughtful for a moment she spoke up once more, "Who are they? Your friends?"

"My teammates."

"Can I meet them? They look so nice."

"You already did."

"Huh?"

"They're dead. Their names are written on the memorial stone."

Green eyes widened and the child's face fell. She said too much again but it was so difficult to start a conversation with this man. Anything she could find to bring up a conversation seemed taboo and the silver-haired girl began to wonder if there would be anything she could get to know about her guardian that wouldn't make either of them sad. They already seemed to be off on the wrong foot and no matter what she kept making things worse. This time she deigned to stay quiet and plopped herself down on the floor by the table taking her little pad of paper and pen out of her tunic.

"Stay here I'm going shopping," Kakashi spoke finally, turning towards the door. The child got up suddenly looking frightened.

"C-can I come?"

"No, just stay here and don't leave the house."

"Y-yes sir."

"Think up a name for yourself while I'm gone. I can't keep calling you 'kid' or 'girl,'" he added, slipping his sandals back on and letting the door close loudly behind him before locking it. The little girl sunk back to the floor, no longer interested in drawing. Worry clouded her mind and she couldn't help but sniffle as tears formed in her eyes.

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I have no internet so these are written on my laptop and transferred to my phone before upload. Apologies if the formatting suffers and if I missed any spelling/grammatical errors in my proofreading. Also I goofed; Hiruzen refers to Kakashi by name while he's in his ANBU uniform which is a big no-no. Also Kakashi put on his ANBU uniform at home which is also a big no-no. As far as I know their ANBU gear is kept in their lockers at headquarters in order to preserve all that secrecy and whatnot.


	2. Chapter 2

Rescue Me  
By Jet Set Yoyo

Summary: Nineteen year old Kakashi wasn't exactly a happy person, not after everything he had been through, but he could at least say he was content with where he was in life at the moment. When a foreign Shinobi infiltrates Konoha in the dead of night Kakashi finds himself in an interesting position and everything in his life turns upside down. Bit of an AU but not quite.

A/N: Something about this chapter annoys me but I can't quite put my finger on it. Also I really love constructive criticism. Doesn't have to be fancy, let me know what's going on in your head! I mean, I don't really _mind_ reviews that just say you love it (or hate it), I appreciate them all the same, but I really like when people can point out the weak parts of my stories and suggest how to fix them. (or don't and let me figure it out! I like a challenge :D) Tell me _why_ you love/hate it! I want to know!

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Kakashi strolled along the path away from his apartment. It probably wasn't a good idea to leave the kid alone but he needed some time to think. Eventually he would make his way to the market but for now he had one destination; the same place he ended up every morning. Coming up on the memorial stone, Kakashi stood silently for a while just staring into space.

"Obito, Rin, what am I supposed to do," He whispered, frowning deeply. "Sorry I didn't bring any flowers this time. It's been a weird day."

The teenaged Shinobi stood for a good half hour, quietly lamenting his sorrow and frustrations to the stone before bidding farewell to his friends. He shoved his hands back into his pockets and trudged away. It would probably be a good idea to get his groceries and head back before the kid either destroyed his house or escaped. The Hokage would really let him have it if he lost the brat in less than a few hours. Begrudgingly he reminded himself this was an important mission and he should swallow his discontent to complete it but he really couldn't help but hate being reduced to a babysitter. He could imagine Obito's cheeky grin and the way he would have teased him. Rin probably would have loved the kid and encouraged him to be nice. Quickly those thoughts were shelved, shoved right out of his mind. It wasn't doing him any favors to wonder what his friends would have done. They weren't there anymore and it was his fault.

Despite his head being elsewhere, Kakashi's feet knew where to take him. Once he snapped out of it, he found himself right in front of the little market. A bell jingled on the door as he slid it open and entered.

"Welcome! Oh, Kakashi-kun. It's been a while, I've got some fresh saury today if you're interested," the old woman at the counter crowed with a chuckle. There weren't too many markets around Konoha but that didn't stop the old woman from remembering her regulars; especially the boy she watched grow up.

"Yes ma'am. I'm cooking for two, so I'll need a bit extra. He picked some pre-packaged goods off of a shelf along with a small variety of vegetables that would hold them over for a while. Kakashi liked simple foods. His father had never been a master chef and though Kakashi himself had learned to cook well he preferred some of the simple foods he used to eat frequently as a child.

"Oh? For two, eh? You've finally gone and got yourself a girlfriend Kakashi-kun?" The old woman teased. Kakashi turned red and shook his head.

"No, just taking care of a friend's kid for a bit."

"How disappointing," the woman huffed sending him a mischievous wink as she wrapped up the saury and other groceries Kakashi had chosen. She then tossed a couple pieces of candy from a glass jar on the counter into the bag. "Children always like treats, take these too. I won't charge you. The rest is two thousand four hundred and ninety-two yen."

Handing over the money, Kakashi picked up the bag of food and gave the woman a wave before disappearing out the door. The bell jingled again as he left. He would've liked to take his time going back home but he began to worry maybe he shouldn't have taken so long getting back. His pace quickened to a brisk walk and soon his apartment was in view. It wasn't in flames, and the police force wasn't there either so that was a good sign. Still, he hoped the kid listened and stayed put otherwise the Hokage would have his hide. The door was still locked at least. Balancing the bag of groceries in one hand while he wrestled the key into the lock with the other, Kakashi pushed the door open and stepped inside. He couldn't see the kid anywhere and panicked. He was almost knocked over by a small frame launching itself into his chest just as he set the groceries on the table. He stumbled back a step, reaching for his kunai before realizing it was the kid.

"You came back! T-there was a strange man that came in from the window. He was looking for you and I hid under the bed 'til he left. He was loud and weird," the girl blurted out, clinging to him. Kakashi peeled her away from him and plopped her on the floor as she continued, "Is he a bad man?"

"What did he look like?"

"He was tall like you and he was wearing this green jumpsuit."

"No, that's not an enemy. Just an idiot," Kakashi face-palmed while letting out an exasperated sigh. The five-year-old waited for an explanation but the teen didn't elaborate. Instead he moved back to the groceries as he started putting them away. "Did you think up a name yet?"

"Yes! Rin!" The silver-haired child chirped happily, looking quite proud of herself.

"No. Pick a different one," Kakashi spat, taken aback by the choice.

"Why? I like it," the child pressed, frowning at her guardian's stubbornness.

"Because I said no."

"Why," Rin cried loudly, fully frustrated now with the teen. Why did the Hokage have to send her with such a stubborn, annoying, secretive jerk?

"Because you can't be Rin," Kakashi spat back, raising his voice to match her level. He really shouldn't have let a child rile him up so much but some things were sacred. This was one of them. He spun around to face the girl, pointing right behind her to the photograph in the frame by his bed. " _She's_ Rin."

Rin turned to look at what the man was pointing to; the picture. Her eyes glanced over at the brunette female in the photo smiling happily beside the two boys and their Sensei. She frowned again. Kakashi was trying to calm himself, having already turned back around to finish putting away the groceries. Outside he looked normal, inside he was shaken. What were the odds the kid would pick a name so sensitive to him?

"Let me help," stated Rin's small voice as she took the milk carton from his hands and trotted over to the fridge to put it away. She came back and promptly took the eggs from him to do the same. While she was rummaging around in the refrigerator Kakashi cleared his throat.

"Listen kid, I don't think that's the right name for you," he started, rubbing the back of his head. His expression was neutral, no anger or sorrow present that Rin could see. She had poked her head out of the fridge and was staring back at him with a pout.

"I'm not your Rin. I'm _my_ Rin," she replied cryptically with all of the logic a five-year-old could muster. This only served to frustrate the teen more. "I like that name. It's a pretty name. There's other people with it too, you know. So I don't hafta pick another one 'cause I don't wanna."

Kakashi returned the statement with a glare. This kid wasn't going to make anything easy, was she? Why did she even want the name to begin with and why was she putting up such a fight about picking a different one? This was more trouble than it was worth. Finally he let out a frustrated groan, scratching at the back of his head again.

"Fine, whatever. I'm not going to fight with you if you're going to be that stubborn about it."

"Ok," Rin replied cheekily, closing the fridge and returning to the room to pick up more items to put away. Kakashi clicked his tongue but gave up. How did he get himself into this position? He made a mental note to go petition to the Hokage one last time to change his mind. Otherwise he might end up going crazy. Once the groceries had been put away, Kakashi glanced up at the time; a little while after noon. His stomach reminded him that it had been quite a while since he had breakfast.

The former ANBU captain went off the kitchen, nudging the troublesome child in his path out of the way gently, and retrieved a few pots and pans from the cupboards. He set to work on lunch and the motions of cooking slowly calmed his mind. Meanwhile Rin had plopped herself back down at the table in the bedroom fiddling with the pen and paper yet not really drawing anything. She was frustrated. The man was nice, but he wasn't nice. He was so secretive, leaving her to continue to push his buttons both on purpose and accident until he exploded. It's not like she wanted to hurt his feelings or make him angry, mostly. All of this was so new to her. In fact she couldn't even remember being taken care of by anyone else. Everything before waking up in the forest was blank; like it had never happened.

 **You seem troubled child.** Rin jumped at the voice, it wasn't Kakashi's and yet no one else was in the room. She peered around in confusion, green eyes searching every corner of the room; even under the bed. **You don't know who I am yet? Idiot pup. Who do you think has kept you alive all these years?**

Rin shivered, confused and shaken. Who was speaking to her, she could hear the voice but at the same time she _couldn't_ hear the voice. Where was it coming from, she wondered. The distress must have been clear on her face because she snapped out of her reverie to find Kakashi scrutinizing her as he set down various foods on the table. He sat down to her right, glancing over with a raised eyebrow. She flashed him a sheepish grin and picked up her chopsticks.

"Itadakimasu!" Both announced, digging into the bowls of rice before them occasionally grabbing some of the side dishes arranged in front of them. Salt-broiled saury as well as a variety of steamed and pickled vegetables were all consumed fairly quickly, leaving nothing left. Kakashi didn't even need to hide his face from the girl; she hadn't been paying attention the whole time. Their silent meal was ended with a quick utterance of, "Gochisousama."

"What's your problem?" Kakashi inquired bluntly, still trying to figure out why the kid was so dazed. Did he really upset her earlier? Was it because he moved her out of his way before cooking? He waited for a reply but the cheeky brat only smiled at him. "Well? Out with it already."

"Nothing, I'm fine," she answered, still not wiping the grin from her face. She trotted into the kitchen with her plate, bowl, and chopsticks but with nothing to step onto she couldn't reach the sink to wash them. She emerged from the kitchen and went to drag a chair out from the small desk in the corner.

"Just leave it, I'll do the dishes."

"M'kay," Rin replied, distracted.

Kakashi wasn't buying her excuses. Something freaked the kid out but nothing would come of him pressing; especially since they weren't exactly getting along. Normally he would have gone out by now, maybe read a book somewhere but since he wasn't keen on dragging her out with him he was stuck in the house. The last thing he wanted to do was run into someone he knew and have to answer questions about why he was toting a small child with him. Since he couldn't go out, he would just stay in and read. At least then, save for whatever nonsense the kid might come up with, he could be left alone. He still refused to call her by that name.

Hours passed, Kakashi was too engrossed in his book to pay much heed to the antsy girl trying to entertain herself on the other side of the room. He noticed, since he occasionally would look up from the pages at her, but he didn't care. She was quiet and that was all that mattered to the teen. The next time he looked up, she was flopped over across the table fast asleep. The sun was setting, sending a warm orange glow across the room. It was then that he mentally berated himself; he forgot to get a spare futon for her and he didn't own a couch. With a click of his tongue, he tossed one of his pillows onto the floor and went over to the sleeping child. He picked her up with ease and laid her down on the bed.

"Brat," he huffed to himself as he covered her up with the blanket. From his closet he pulled a spare blanket out and settled himself onto the floor. Tomorrow he would definitely go get a futon. He'd be damned if he gave up his bed another night. He read a little while longer until the lack of sunlight no longer allowed him to read. Instead of turning on the light in the little apartment, he went to sleep.

Rin woke to the birds chirping and a splash of sunlight hitting her face. It took a moment for her to remember where she was. She didn't remember falling asleep in a bed until she went to get up and saw Kakashi still asleep on the floor. With concentration she quietly snuck out of the bed and over the former ANBU captain's sleeping form and trotted into the bathroom. Emerging minutes later she dragged the chair into the kitchen.

Kakashi had stirred the moment he sensed something moving. Once he was awake, he watched Rin through one cracked eye for a few moments. When his suspicion that she might try to sneak out was quelled he relaxed again and enjoyed a few more moments of rest. What he hadn't counted on was falling back asleep. When he woke next there was a loud clatter coming from the kitchen that jolted the Shinobi from his slumber.

"Oops," came the mischievous voice from the kitchen as Kakashi came to stand in the doorway. The kitchen was a mess, utensils and pans everywhere. Half chopped food on the cutting board and something boiling on the stove. He noticed she had washed all the dishes at least and was currently perched in front of the stove atop the chair she had dragged in earlier.

"Didn't I tell you I would wash those? What are you doing," Kakashi questioned, startling the little girl into dropping the spoon she had been holding into the boiling pot. He grabbed her hand as she instinctively went to reach for it, "Don't. You'll burn yourself, stupid."

"Mornin'," she chirped, grinning up at him. "I'm making us miso soup, I think."

The silver-haired teen picked her up under the arms and dropped her on her feet in the doorway before pushing the chair out from in front of the stove. He continued cooking, eyeing the concoction with mild disdain. Rin puffed out her cheeks and tugged on his sleeve.

"Hey, _I_ was cooking breakfast," she whined, ignoring him as he tried to swat her away lightly.

"This is breakfast?"

"Uh-huh."

"Hm, well finish chopping the spring onions then if you want to help."

"M'kay," she responded with glee, pushing the chair in front of the cutting board. While Rin chopped the vegetables, Kakashi did the actual cooking. Though a little misshapen and not entirely a regular meal, he managed to salvage the dishes into something edible. The energetic girl glided to the table as Kakashi brought out the food. "Yay, it looks so yummy."

"I don't know. Sure you aren't trying to poison me," he teased sending a sideways glance at the chubby-faced child as he sat down.

"Am not! I was making regular miso soup," she cried indignantly picking up her chopsticks. "Itadakimasu. I'll show you it's not poisoned. I'll even eat yours!"

"I'm not sharing," Kakashi quipped. If he hadn't been wearing a mask she would have seen he was beginning to smile. Alas he thrived on being mysterious and with most of his face covered at all times, there weren't many left alive who could see through the walls he had built for himself.

"Then be poisoned. Stupid!"

"I thought you didn't poison it?"

"I didn't!" She cried, looking absolutely frustrated as she shoved a bite of rice into her mouth. Kakashi let a small chuckle escape his lips and dug into his own food, fully amused by the now fuming chibi beside him. Rin kept at her food with vehemence, glaring into her bowl of rice as she finished the whole meal in a few minutes flat. She puffed out her cheeks, still glaring at the older male, "Gochisousama. Hey Baka-Kashi, can I go out? I want to see stuff again."

Kakashi nearly choked on his rice. He hadn't heard that nickname in years. The last person who had called him that, well he didn't want to think about it. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself. It was too early to really get riled up. Honestly he still didn't want to be seen around the village with the kid but chances were he wasn't going to get rid of her anytime soon. Neither one of them could stay in the apartment that whole time and become hermits. Someone would be bound to notice that.

"Maa… I suppose," he drawled, picking up the empty dishes from the table and retreating to the kitchen to wash them properly along with the mess they had left in there earlier. "What exactly are you hoping to see?"

"I've never seen a village before. There's sooooo much here! Everything is so pretty, the shops smell yummy and the people seem so nice. I want to see _everything_ ," Rin sang happily, skipping into the kitchen with a pair of forgotten chopsticks. The older male raised his one visible eyebrow.

"Where did you live then?"

"Dunno. I really can't 'member anything before waking up in the forest. It's not even fuzzy, it's just gone." She shrugged but from the look on her face Kakashi figured the lack of memories bothered her at least a little bit. Setting the last dish in the dish rack to dry, Kakashi wiped his hands on a nearby towel and peered down at the child who was waiting impatiently.

"Eh. Let's go then," he sighed, steeling himself for the barrage of questions sure to follow once he inevitably ran into someone he knew. That was just his luck. Rin skipped out the door, stopping only long enough to slide her sandals on. Kakashi was right after her; it was his job to guard her after all. The Hokage had made it clear enough; whatever was going on with this kid, someone might be after her eventually. "Hey, don't run ahead. Stay where I can see you."

"Then hurry up old man!" Rin teased, sticking out her tongue while she continued to skip merrily down the path. She grinned happily, pausing every few moments to admire something she came across.

"Do you even know where you're going?"

"Nope! Just want to see stuff. What kind of fun things is there to do here?"

Honestly this felt like a D-rank mission he had been stuck doing as a child. Even after he had been promoted to Chuunin the rest of his teammates were still Genin and because of his age it was difficult to find any other Shinobi willing to work with him. Though briefly he figured he would've liked to chase around lost cats instead of this kid. She was relatively manageable though; perhaps the Hokage hadn't exactly been lying when he said she wasn't a typical child.

"Uh, depends on what you consider fun?"

"Oh, uhm… I dunno." Kakashi almost snorted, instead he exhaled sharply through his nose and the corners of his mouth tugged upwards in amusement.

Up ahead was a bit of a commotion. Rin stopped skipping and looked on with curiosity. Kakashi, only mildly interested, watched only because he needed to stay with Rin. A young boy came tearing down the road cackling. Bright blond hair shone in the sunlight splotched rainbow colors from some sort of paint it seemed, judging by the brush and bucket he had clasped in his hands. The little silver-haired girl stared on in awe as he approached. Kakashi frowned briefly; the mop of blond seemed familiar. Was this Sensei's boy? Had it already been that long since Minato had passed? He wasn't entirely sure until the boy was close.

Distinct whisker marks on his cheeks were a dead giveaway as well as his eyes blue as the sky that met Kakashi's grey ones. They were full of mischief, a defiant glint shone through them. When Kakashi said nothing, the boy switched his gaze to Rin before grinning ear to ear while he zoomed past. Not far behind were a few Chunnin shouting his name with exasperation. Kakashi figured this wasn't the first time the boy had played some sort of prank. In fact he was positive he had heard the Hokage scolding the child a few times in his office. He never did work up the courage to officially meet the last legacy left behind by his beloved mentor.

"Who was that? He looks like fun. I wonder what he was doing."

"I would advise against that particular type of fun."

"Why?"

"Because he's clearly in trouble for it," Kakashi sighed, just as the Chunnin rushed past them still shouting for the boy to stop. "Let's go then. I think I might know a spot you'll like."

"Oh," Rin's voice trailed off as she looked down the path after the boy who was almost gone from sight. The older Shinobi were not far behind him. Secretly she hoped he would escape. Even if Kakashi said he was in trouble, whatever he had been doing looked like it might have been fun. A nudge brought her attention back to the older male and she vaguely remembered the last thing he said. "Really? Where is it? What's there?"

"You'll see, stop being so noisy."

The former ANBU Captain ambled down the path and around a corner. Rin wasn't far behind, still getting easily distracted by all sorts of ordinary objects. He was positive she had picked up a dozen 'pretty' rocks already and stuffed them into her tunic. Up ahead was the village playground. Many of the children came here to play after classes let out, including himself once upon a time. When the sight of slides, swings, and other various contraptions caught little Rin's eye she gushed loudly.

"Uwah! Wow!" Off she went, dashing up the steps and into the fenced in area. A few other kids were already there, playing their own games. She skidded to a halt, taking in everything with eyes wide. What to do first? Indecisiveness was her biggest downfall, not to mention she wasn't exactly sure what to do with any of these things. Kakashi hadn't followed her in all the way. He came just inside the fence but plopped himself down under a tree and took out a book.

If Kakashi wasn't going to show her how to use these things, she would figure it out herself. First she shifted her gaze to the other kids present. Two boys hurried to a slab of wood hung by rope from a large wooden frame and soon were going back and forth, higher and higher. Finally they both launched themselves from the swing and landed several feet away before cheering happily who had gotten farther and marking it in the dirt. Now that looked fun.

"Hey, um, can I play too?"

"Sure. Wanna see how far you can jump?" One of the boys answered. He had brown hair pulled back into a short ponytail and brown eyes to match.

"Ok!"

Rin jogged to the swing and sat down but the swing didn't move like it had for the boys. The other boy had claimed the other swing and was already getting pretty high. This boy had short brown hair and red marks on his face. She frowned, wondering how to make the thing move.

"You hafta move your legs silly!" The boy shouted before dragging his legs on the ground beneath the swing, grinding to a halt. "Here watch. Walk back with the swing then jump on to get it started, then when you start going forward pull back on the rope and push your legs out. When it starts going backwards push with your hands and bring your feet back."

Rin watched the boy as he did just as he described, soon he was going high again and it seemed so easy then. She furrowed her brow in concentration and hopped back off the seat dragging it backwards as far as she could before attempting to hop on. Instead she ended up going out the back and head-down into the dirt.

"Don't sit up," yelled the other boy, watching from the sidelines. Rin didn't listen and promptly got smacked right in the forehead as the runaway swing came back towards her. The trio burst into a fit of giggles. The boy on the sidelines came over while the other boy launched himself into the air. "Yo, I'm Shikamaru."

"And I'm Kiba," the other boy claimed boisterously running back from where he had landed.

"I'm Rin! Let me try this again, I can get it," the girl announced with determination, getting up off the ground and taking hold of the swing once more. She pushed the swing back as far as she could then jumped. This time she landed on it without falling and clutched the ropes tightly, so focused on not falling off she forgot the rest of the instructions. Kiba and Shikamaru laughed.

"Here, I'll push you Rin-chan. Then you can push with your legs and not worry," Kiba offered, his laughter trailing off into a chuckle. Rin had already slowed to nearly a stop as Kiba grabbed hold of the ropes and pulled her back. "Kay, hold on! Then don't forget to push and pull this time!"

Kiba ran with all his might, pushing the swing. It hadn't gone far but to be fair it was high enough for the five year old. She hadn't realized how frightening it was to be this far from the ground. On the other hand it was exhilarating. Remembering she was supposed to pull the rope as she went forward and put her feet out, she did but couldn't figure out if it had helped. As the swing reached its crest and started backwards she pulled her feet in and leaned forward. After a few times she realized she wasn't slowing down and her face lit up with glee.

"Kiba-kun! Shikamaru-kun! I'm doing it! All by myself!"

"Yeah! Now when you swing high, right when you go as far forward as you can slid off the swing!"

"Just remember to land on your feet, not your head," Shikamaru added, smirking. The two boys watched as the little silver-haired girl went sailing through the air. Her arms flapped wildly in a mixture of panic and excitement before her feet hit the ground. They weren't able to keep her upright with the momentum and she fell forward, catching herself on her hands and knees.

"I did it! I did it! And I beat you guys!"

"Beginner luck! Besides you're tinier so you fly further," Kiba shot back, pouting while Shikamaru laughed.

"Ah, my Dad's here. I gotta go guys. See you again!" Shikamaru waved at the pair and trotted off with his father who looked the spitting image of the boy, only with facial hair and a lot of scars.

"Looks like Mom's here. Sorry Rin, come play again!"

Kiba took off with his mother and a large black dog with an eye patch chattering animatedly as he left. Rin looked over at Kakashi who was fully engrossed in his book. If he had noticed, or cared, what she had accomplished he didn't acknowledge it. Rin pursed her lips and ran back to the swing for another go. Maybe this time she could start it herself. Turns out she couldn't; after a few more bumps on the head Rin seemed to give up, sitting on the stationary swing disappointed.

Kakashi looked up from his book after a while, the noise from the kids had gone silent for quite some time. While he had occasionally looked up to make sure Rin was still present, he hadn't paid them much heed as they played. Now it was only Rin left and she was sitting alone on a swing. The Shinobi went back to his book. Moments later, at the feeling of an approaching presence, he looked back up to find the girl in front of him.

"Saa, ready to leave then?"

"I guess. It's not as fun to play alone. Is there anywhere else fun?"

"Probably."

"Can we go?"

"I suppose." Kakashi stood, dusting the dirt from his pants. He waltzed leisurely from the park with Rin at his heels back down the pathway.

* * *

Eh well this fic isn't exactly Kakashi and little Rin-centric but I do need to develop their relationship a bit before I toss in the build-up of the actual plot. This story was supposed to be mostly fluff to satisfy my need for a cute story. Somehow I've ended up making it a lot more serious as I fleshed it out. Whoops. I'm trying not to rush things but at the same time I want to hurry up and get to the meat of the story already. Haha~ Once again, constructive criticism/thoughts/suggestions/etc are greatly appreciated. Maybe I'll doodle a pic of Rin before I type up the next chapter for the story image.


	3. Chapter 3

Rescue Me  
By Jet Set Yoyo

Summary: Nineteen year old Kakashi wasn't exactly a happy person, not after everything he had been through, but he could at least say he was content with where he was in life at the moment. When a foreign Shinobi infiltrates Konoha in the dead of night Kakashi finds himself in an interesting position and everything in his life turns upside down. Bit of an AU but not quite.

A/N: I'm on a roll~  
This story is moving too slowly for my liking, I'm a bit dissatisfied but like I said I don't want to rush anything either. I'm at an impasse so I'll just keep pressing forward.

* * *

At some point during their walk, Rin had taken the lead again. She was darting this way and that, across the dirt road while Kakashi kept his lazy pace pointed in a straight line. He caught up to her with minimum effort considering all the times she stopped to gawk at something.

"Ne, Kakashi-san?" Rin piped up, looking up at the Shinobi as he approached where she was currently crouched over a toad in the grass.

"Hm?" Kakashi lifted one eye lazily from his book he was still reading.

"What do _you_ do for fun?"

"I read. Shinobi have little time for fun; missions come first."

"Boo-ring!" Rin skipped away, moving on to the next thing she saw in her path.

A rustle in the leaves of a nearby tree captured the teen's attention, an ANBU made his presence known nodding slightly to the teen. Kakashi snapped his book shut, tucking it into his tool pouch fastened to his belt and glanced towards Rin. She was occupied at the moment, this time peeling a caterpillar from the bark of a stray branch. He met the ANBU halfway and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"What is it?"

"There have been whispers. Even though the Hokage has kept a tight lid on the girl's presence it seems Root has caught wind of it. Danzo-sama is meeting with the Hokage soon. Hokage-sama said to be on guard though. There's also talk of movement outside the village but so far we're unsure who it might be."

"Roger. Is that all?"

"Yes Captain."

"Right then. Dismissed."

The ANBU poofed away, leaving Kakashi to decide whether he should take Rin home or carry on as usual. Seems their brief escapade outside his apartment had captured Danzo's Root Shinobi's attention fairly quickly. It was either that or they had investigated the night she had arrived. Root was just as sneaky as the Hokage's ANBU, yet far more ruthless in their tactics. Danzo had been on the Hokage's radar as of late. A few choice incidents handled with less tact than expected left the Hokage questioning his long time friend. For a while, Kakashi and his ANBU squad had tailed the man but nothing incriminating ever surfaced. Danzo had, of course, swore his allegiance to Hiruzen and the Hokage was forced to let the matter go in favor of more pressing matters. There was never a dull moment in the Hidden Leaf Village. Word of movement outside the village put the teenaged Shinobi further on edge.

"Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi returned to the pathway where Rin was left standing in confusion at his momentary absence. He decided to go about business as usual, not willing to give Root the heads up that he was on to them. Nor anyone else who might be keeping an eye on their new guest.

"Ne, Kakashi-san where did you go?"

"Nowhere, just admiring the scenery," he lied, brushing the child off and pulling out his book once more.

Rin didn't look convinced but she said nothing else before trotting ahead. They found their way into the heart of the village and some more sightseeing ensued. Kakashi stayed rather disengaged, only humming in agreement occasionally when asked something as he trailed after the energetic child. The presence of Shinobi and civilians alike made it difficult for the ninja to discern whether anyone might be following them but for the time being there was no outward threat. He didn't expect any problems but there was something to be said about outsiders getting in after the night before last.

"Kakashi!" A voice called and the silver-haired teen cringed. Out of a nearby dumpling shop dashed one particular green-clad Shinobi; exactly the person Kakashi had hoped not to run into today. He let his eye glance over to Rin who had stopped walking and stared at the pair just as Maito Gai launched himself at his long time rival. The flamboyant teen slung an arm around his shoulders and grinned, "Come and join us Kakashi!"

Just as he was about to blow off the offer Rin worked up the courage to come closer to the loud, odd man. She blinked up at him before blurting out loudly, "Ah! You're the weirdo who broke into Kakashi's house!"

"Wh-wh-what? I did not _break_ in. Who is this little one?" Gai cried out. A few snickers came from the dumpling shop. Kakashi noticed a group of his fellow Jounin were gathered there; all former classmates from the academy. It seemed there were quite a few of them; Anko, Asuma, Kurenai, and Genma sat inside peering out at the scene before them.

"I'm Rin! I live with Kakashi 'cause I dunn-" Kakashi clamped a hand over her mouth quickly. At the name, Gai looked surprised as did the rest of the group. Surprised enough that Gai and gone silent much longer than he usually did. The guilt emanating from them all only served to further irritate the teen; he didn't need their pity. Or any reminders of his grave errors. Kakashi released the girl after a moment, putting away his book once more and returning his hands to his pockets.

"A neighbors kid. Just keeping an eye on her for a while," he added, giving Rin a stern glare. The warning went straight over her head as she was too busy poking at Gai's jumpsuit. The boisterous Jounin patted her head gently.

"Hey I want dumplings! Can we stay Kakashi-san?"

This was exactly what Kakashi didn't want to happen but it had been a while since they had eaten so a few dumplings to tide them over until dinner wouldn't hurt. He was sure he would regret it immediately but begrudgingly he agreed, "Sure."

"Yay! Dumplings! Dumplings!" Rin chanted happily in a singsong voice, skipping into the shop. "Come sit Kakashi-san, come on!"

Gai, Kakashi and Rin sat at a table adjacent to the one the rest of the Jounin were seated at as there wasn't enough room for them to squeeze into that table. Kurenai sent a smile towards the little silver-haired girl who quickly flashed back a toothy grin of her own.

"Never pegged you as a babysitter Kakashi," Asuma chuckled. Kakashi resisted the urge to roll his eyes and waved over a server.

"Wasn't exactly my choice," Kakashi grumbled, turning to the young woman who came to take their order. "We'll take two plates of dumplings, a water, and what do you want to drink kid?"

"Water please," chirped Rin. When the server disappeared, the little girl turned to Gai. "Ne, burglar-san. Are you Kakashi-san's friend?"

"Kakashi is my eternal rival! And I am not a burglar! I wasn't breaking in!"

"Maa, Gai. Entering someone's house without permission technically is breaking in you know," Kakashi teased. It only served to rile Gai up more and send the rest of them into fits of laughter.

Time passed and Rin chattered animatedly with the older Shinobi in between bites of her dumplings. Kakashi chipped in occasionally but otherwise kept mostly silent. Gai had nearly gotten himself kicked out of the shop from trying to compete with Kakashi at the table, almost knocking it right over. Rin giggled at the sight, Kakashi was still being moody but he seemed a lot happier surrounded by people. At least, she thought he did. Even if it was only a slight difference, Rin could see it in the way he interacted with his fellow Jounin. It almost made the five-year-old sad; she didn't have friends, family, or anything right now since her memories were gone. The only person she had right now was a secretive, moody teenager.

An ANBU messenger appeared suddenly, startling Rin and bringing worry to the rest of the Jounin. It was Otter again. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, wondering what he could want this time. The teen waited for the ANBU to speak up but Otter only glanced at Rin and the group of Jounin. Getting the hint, Kakashi followed Otter out of the shop, telling Rin to stay put before disappearing into a deserted alleyway nearby.

"Twice in a few hours, that's a record. What's happened now?"

"Hokage wishes to see you and Rin as soon as possible." Kakashi only sighed but at least it would be a good excuse to leave this gathering he had been roped into.

"Alright. Dismissed," Kakashi re-entered the dumpling shop to find Gai doing a handstand and perched atop his legs was Rin laughing whole-heartedly. The teen just stared, exasperated at the scene before him. The rest of the shop patrons stared, civilians snickered and whispered behind their hands. "We have to go."

"Aw but I'm helping Burglar-san train. He said you guys are tied and he has to win the next round."

"I'm not a burglar," Gai yelped indignantly.

"Another time, c'mon," Kakashi was definitely no longer in the mood for this.

"Ok… sorry Burglar-san. I'll help you train next time!"

Gai lowered his legs, letting Rin hop down and scurry over to Kakashi's side. Before they left, Kakashi plopped enough cash to cover their meals on the table and sent his former classmates a lazy wave.

"How come we have to leave? I liked them. Burglar-san is funny," Rin whined, following Kakashi as he weaved through the crowd of Shinobi and civilians at a faster pace than he had been going all day.

"Hokage-sama wants to see us. Stop dragging your feet," Kakashi sighed, grabbing the shoulder of her tunic and pulling her in front of him so he could see her. He wasn't sure what the Hokage might have found out but he needed to keep a closer eye on her since the crowd was much thicker this time of day; it would be easy to lose her in the sea of people. Breaking through the crowd at last Kakashi climbed the stairs to the Hokage tower, nodding at the guards and stepped through to door into the hall. With Rin back at his heels instead of in front of him, since she was having difficulty keeping his pace, he knocked on the door to the Hokage's office.

"Enter," came the old man's voice, deep and rusty from years of smoking his pipe. The pair entered and Kakashi came to a halt in front of the man's desk.

"You wanted to see us Hokage-same?" Rin waltzed right up to the desk and fiddled with some of the papers on top of it, completely unaware of protocol. Kakashi glared in her direction but Hiruzen only shook his head at the teen.

"I've just had a meeting with Danzo. He was quite upset he hadn't been notified about the girl and had to find out from one of his Root Shinobi who was making their rounds. He has some concerns about leaving a possible Jinchuuriki to you alone. That being said, he offered to take the child off your hands and keep her safe as well as give her the training she would need to become a loyal Konoha Shinobi," Hiruzen began searching the teen's face for any window into his thoughts. As usual Kakashi kept himself expressionless and stood quietly while he pondered over the information presented. "I would rather she stay in a more casual setting, allow her the protection and guidance needed while still being able to be a child. You know as well as I how strict Root is, which is precisely why I declined when he offered the same for young Naruto."

Hiruzen paused, letting Kakashi take in the information while he turned his gaze to the little girl who had now moved to his side of the desk. Rin was listening, she pretended she wasn't as she touched all the things on his desk nosily, but she was listening. Did this mean she wasn't going to stay with Kakashi anymore? Rin wasn't sure what to think of that but she was suddenly filled with a lot of anxiety because of it. Kakashi hadn't known that Danzo had wanted to take in Naruto; perhaps if he had then the little imp wouldn't be running around the village causing trouble all the time. However the teen knew, just as well as Hiruzen did, the type of life a Root Shinobi would lead. It wasn't anyone's ideal, which is why Danzo's men were mostly made up of orphans and people who had lost everyone they had held dear; people who had nothing left.

"And what have you been calling yourself little one? Has Kakashi given you a name, or have you picked one yourself?"

"I picked it! I'm Rin!" Hiruzen smiled warmly at the little girl but the grimace Kakashi tried his best to stifle was noticed as well.

"That's a good name, Rin. It's a name for very respectable Shinobi, would you like to become one some day?"

"Uhm, I dunno…sir."

"That's ok, you still have a few more years until you would traditionally enter the academy. However if you decide to, you could quite likely enter now. I suspect you would be quite skilled and have no trouble passing the entrance exam," the Hokage assured the girl, patting her head with a chuckle. He turned back to Kakashi. "So? You've spent some time with Rin-chan now. Was I incorrect to choose you for this mission? Should I send her to Danzo or will you continue looking after her?"

Kakashi frowned deeply. Though he would be glad to be rid of her and get back to his normal life, something about leaving her with Root didn't sit well with the teen. She was annoying in some ways but entertaining in others. He was deeply conflicted. Rin waited, clutching her tunic with worry. Her lip quivered the longer it took her guardian to answer. He really didn't want her. She hadn't thought about how much that hurt until now. Her expression hadn't escaped the teen's notice.

"No sir, you weren't incorrect. I'll finish the mission." Rin's eyes lit up as Kakashi uttered the words. Did that mean she could stay with him? She hoped so.

"Good. I'm sure Otter has also alerted you to the presence of someone sneaking around outside the village? Take extra care, Kakashi. I've had the security sector reevaluate the village barrier and security protocols. After Rin here walked right in the front door with no problem we have to be assured all the holes are patched up tightly. Even against stray children."

"Yes sir. I haven't noticed any strange presence's in our vicinity. As far as I know, no one inside the village is currently after her."

"Hm. That is good news. Do not let your guard down regardless."

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

"That is all. I'll send Otter again if I need you."

Rin calmed herself down, no longer gripping tightly onto her tunic. She had really thought he was going to give her away. It had only been a day and a half since she met the older boy but the sound of her other option seemed worse in a way she couldn't explain. All those words she couldn't understand made the five-year-old far more anxious than she should have been. Kakashi bowed slightly to the older man, turning to leave.

"Kakashi don't forget, Rin-chan has no one right now."

"Yes sir." Kakashi replied automatically, his back still to the elder. Hiruzen gave Rin a light push, nodding in Kakashi's direction with a soft smile. Watching the pair leave, the old man sat back in his chair with a heavy sigh. For all it was worth, he hoped his intentions came to fruition with this mission. Time would tell.

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There's going to probably be a brief gap in my phone's internet, can't pay for it until my check comes in. So after this chapter there might be a few days in between updates. Should be back to it by Thursday. Thanks for reading~ Reviews/Constructive Criticism/Suggestions/Complaints/etc always appreciated. I'm always looking to improve my writing!


	4. Chapter 4

Rescue Me  
By Jet Set Yoyo

Summary: Nineteen year old Kakashi wasn't exactly a happy person, not after everything he had been through, but he could at least say he was content with where he was in life at the moment. When a foreign Shinobi infiltrates Konoha in the dead of night Kakashi finds himself in an interesting position and everything in his life turns upside down. Bit of an AU but not quite.

A/N: Still plugging away until I lose interwebs. Previous chapter's warning still stands. :3 So it's always bothered me that Kishimoto was inconsistent with how Naruto was treated as a kid. You had episodes where he was picked on and glared at by adults and children alike especially in the beginning of the original. Then you had episodes where it seemed he was semi friends with Kiba, Shikamaru, and sometimes Chouji often playing in the park with them or standing in the hall together when they got in trouble. Then all of a sudden as he's older they didn't like him anymore/ignoring him, and then they're friends. Anywho, who's a better friend for a little Jinchuuriki than another little Jinchuuriki? w Originally that was Rin's only purpose for this story but her character and story have since been fleshed out a little more. Like I said, this story was just supposed to be fluff and instead ended up more serious with fluffy undertones.

* * *

It had been just a little over a month since Rin's arrival and her stay with Kakashi began. Every day life had been quiet, if not a bit boring for the silver-haired teen. He was used to taking on dozen's of dangerous missions, not sitting at home babysitting. How could other Shinobi do it? Just have kids and give up their duties as ninja; temporarily or permanently? Though technically this _was_ a mission, it was probably the most boring one he had ever taken on. Even cat wrangling or dog walking would be far more interesting at this point. Rin could be stubborn on occasion but she was relatively obedient most of the time and aside from something that truly excited her, quiet as well. All the better since he still wouldn't consider himself a children kind of person. He wasn't even a children person when he was a child himself. Still it was too boring.

Things had settled down in Konoha, there was no more whispers of mysterious people snooping around outside of the village and Danzo seemed to have taken Hiruzen's decision to keep Rin with Kakashi well enough. Naturally the boy relaxed after a couple weeks and no longer deemed it necessary to trail after the girl when she wanted to explore the village. Not always at least; sometimes he did so just to reiterate to himself that he should be taking his mission a bit more seriously even if she was just a little kid. Today he stayed at home a little longer than Rin. Breakfast had been eaten just a few hours ago and the girl had scurried off to the park he had taken her to a while back. Meanwhile Kakashi cleaned up the dishes before settling down to read. He would perhaps go train later on but the chapter he had left off on the night before was just starting to get good; he couldn't resist.

Rin had found no one at the park when she arrived. Mildly disappointed, she played on the swings for a short while before leaving to find something more interesting. She was lonely. Kakashi could sometimes make for good company, if he was in a very good mood. More often than not he brushed off her attempts at conversation and any displays of affection towards him were quickly avoided or rebuked. Eventually she stopped trying. She found herself in front of the academy building where the old man had told her she could learn to be a Shinobi if she wanted. Through the window she could see a few classrooms lined with children sitting at desks. Most of them seemed to be paying attention to the teacher in the front, a few others were sleeping or goofing off.

"Are you skipping class," questioned a voice. Rin whirled around to find a mop of blond hair and crystal blue eyes blinking at her from across the yard. The boy was perched on the swing in the schoolyard. She shook her head at him, blinking back at him.

"Are you?"

"Nope. I haven't started here yet but I'm going to. I have to convince the old man first, he thinks I can't do it yet. I'll show him, I'm going to be the Hokage one day and everyone will see," the boy declared, his fists tightening on the rope holding up the swing. The blond boy grinned toothily, "I'm Naruto! Who are you?"

"I'm Rin! Wanna go play," Rin returned with a question, grinning back at the boy whose grin only widened further.

"Yeah! I'll show you my secret training spot. I'm real good at throwing shuriken!"

Both of them darted out of the schoolyard and down the path. They passed all the shops, the park, and headed into the forest near one of the training grounds. Rin wondered why people were glaring at them as they passed. Did those people think they were skipping school? Naruto didn't seem like he had noticed, or if he did he didn't care.

"Hey Naruto, where are we going?"

"I told you, my secret training spot!"

"We're not going to get in trouble?"

"Nobody cares what I do, unless I bother them," Naruto grumbled slowing down his pace until they stopped right in front of a clump of bushes. Rin didn't like the sound of that but at least they weren't doing anything she could get scolded for; she hoped. Dropping to his hands and knees, the whiskered boy led the way through a tight opening and out the other side. Rin came next and an awed 'wow' escaped her lips when she emerged. Wooden targets were set up all over the place, there was a rope bridge in between a few trees, and a few ropes dangled from various branches. "See? Isn't it cool? Watch what I can do!"

Naruto dashed off, pulling a bag of shuriken hidden in the trunk of a rotted tree before scurrying up a ladder. He ran the makeshift course, tossing his shuriken at their targets. Though he missed more than he landed, and one had gone whirring by her head a little too closely, she still clapped happily at the display.

"Whoa! This looks like fun, can I try?"

"Sure but we gotta find all the shuriken first. I collected them from the training grounds when people lose them. They won't let me have real shurikens otherwise. I asked once, then I got yelled at."

The pair set to work gathering up the dozen or so shurikens that Naruto had tossed all over the training course. Most were lying on the ground but a few had to be yanked out of tree trunks and branches.

Meanwhile Kakashi had wandered out of the house, deciding to collect Rin and get lunch for a change, until he reached the park and no one was there. Frowning, the former ANBU captain let out a sigh and started looking for her. The Hokage would have his hide if she had been kidnapped, though he doubted that was the case. The teen knew he shouldn't have been so lenient with her regardless. Suppressing the momentary panic he felt, he thought back to all the places and things that interested her on their escapades then decided to check those first. Quickly he shushined away, hoping to find her sooner than later. More than likely bothering an old lady or something.

"Is that all of them?"

"Yeah, we found them all. Go ahead. You just have to hold them like this, then throw," Naruto explained, showing the little silver-haired girl. She clamored up the ladder to where the boy had started and did her best to mimic his movements. There was a target up ahead with three bulls-eyes on it and another up ahead on her left. She started off at a run, taking three of the shurikens between her fingers and let them fly towards the target ahead. One stuck into the wooden target but didn't hit the bulls-eye; the other two clattered to the ground below. She turned as she ran, launching three more at the other target and managed to get one dead on into the target. Naruto whooped happily from below.

Rin kept moving, teetering as she crossed the wobbling rope bridge and her grip slipped on the shuriken she was about to throw at the next target. It fell to the ground and she pouted but moved on instead of trying again. Next she was supposed to jump from one branch to another branch on a tree a couple feet away but once she got close enough to see the large gap she faltered.

"It's not as scary as it looks! Just run and jump it's super easy!"

Naruto's encouragement only helped part of the way. She wasn't afraid of heights but she could definitely say she was afraid of falling from heights. Finally after some internal debate she backed up and sprinted towards the end of the branch. Launching herself into the air she felt the rush of wind and adrenaline before the next branch was close enough for her to grab. She reached for it and managed to grasp onto it. Pulling herself up was another matter, she swung and wriggled but couldn't get her frail arms to muster the strength to lift the rest of her body. Instead she dangled lamely.

"Naruto! I'm stuck," she concluded flatly and the little blond was already on his way up the ladder and across the course to get to her.

"Coming! Hang on," Naruto called out, trying his best to hurry.

Kakashi had resorted to summoning Pakkun to locate the elusive child when he couldn't find her around the village. This led him off behind one of the training grounds which was an odd place to find her. She never ventured this way usually. When he heard her little voice call out he picked up the pace, deigning to take to the trees for a quicker route. Up ahead he saw he hanging from a branch and he really panicked.

Naruto scrambled across the rope bridge and down the thick branch before jumping across. He had already mastered making the jump, having fallen a few times and bruised himself more times than he could count. Maybe he shouldn't have told Rin she could make it. It was ok now though, he made it to the other side and grabbed her hands to pull her up.

"You said it was easy," Rin huffed, panting from the adrenaline high. Naruto looked sheepish, rubbing the back of his head guiltily.

"Sorry, sorry. It's easy for me I guess. I had a lot of practice and I forgot how much I practiced to do it. Don't worry, you almost made it on your first shot. I fell and hurt my ankle real bad the first time. You could probably make it all by yourself the next time."

"Or she could not," Kakashi drawled flatly, appearing on the branch one tree over with Pakkun beside him. Naruto yelped while Rin had let out a quiet gasp in surprise.

"K-Kakashi-san," Rin squeaked.

"You're lucky you didn't get hurt," Kakashi scolded, crossing his arm before adding accusingly, "I thought you were going to the park?"

"I was but then there was no one there. So I met Naruto and now we're playing."

"Uhuh. Naruto, hm? Is this your training course," Kakashi questioned, letting his eye fall on the young blond lazily. Naruto fidgeted under his gaze, staring back at him for a moment.

"Yeah, I made it," Naruto declared finally with a cheeky grin. "Who're you old man?"

"O-old man?" Kakashi paled, staring back at the boy incredulously. Pakkun chuckled from beside him before poofing away; his job already done. Kakashi recovered and added, "I'm her guardian. If you're going to be doing something this dangerous you should have someone else here to make sure you don't get hurt."

Though he was one to talk. He had been training on his own from a young age as well. By the time he had turned five he was already in the academy and would graduate that same year. There was something else to be said about watching other children do it though. Not everyone was as independent and skilled as he had once been though their determination was admirable enough. He eyed the boy still, who seemed to be mulling over his words for a moment. It was a stupid comment regardless; he knew Naruto had no one to supervise his training.

"There's no point. I don't have time for that, I have to get strong so I can hurry up and go to the academy and become a ninja."

"Oh?"

"I'm going to be the Hokage."

"Hm," Kakashi uttered, falling silent. Rin giggled, finding entertainment in their exchange. Naruto was quite set on that goal of his she noticed. Hokage was a respectable position, she wondered why he wanted that job out of all them out there. Kakashi seemed to be thinking and after a moment offered, "I suppose if you two are still going to train I can stick around."

Rin's eyes lit up and a wide grin spread across her face. Naruto took a moment to process the words before grinning as well. He got so excited he jumped up from his perch on the branch and nearly slipped off.

"Whoops," the boy chuckled nervously, righting himself back on the branch with more ease than Rin had. "C'mon Rin, wanna try again?"

"Hmm, ok. Maybe you're right. I might be able to do it next time if I keep trying."

"Just for a bit, I was coming to get you for lunch," Kakashi called out as the two children scrambled back out of the tree and started gathering the shuriken up.

"Ok! Can Naruto come?" Naruto stopped, surprised at the offer, and turned to look at her guardian. It was usually the adults who denied him. He waited, not realizing he was clutching a shuriken a little too tightly and his hand started dripping blood.

"Oi, you're bleeding kiddo," Kakashi warned and Naruto released the shuriken before glancing down at his hand with a frown. Finally Kakashi answered, "I guess so. If that keeps you out of my hair."

"Yahoo!" Naruto and Rin shouted gleefully at the same time.

"Let's go right now, I'm starving! We can practice another time," announced Rin, scooping up the last of the shuriken before depositing them back in the bag Naruto had them hidden in. "Is that ok, Naruto?"

"Hm, ok. I'm hungry too."

"Then maybe you can come over my house and play," Rin said thoughtfully with a giggle. Naruto beamed; no one had ever invited him over to their house before. He always went home alone too. "Can he, Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi wasn't too keen on more than one kid in his house, in fact he wasn't even keen on the first one still. The small glimmer of hope shimmering behind Naruto's blue eyes, semi clouded by hurt made the teen think twice about denying the request. Maybe this time, just this time, he could humor them. It wouldn't hurt.

"Fine, fine. He can come over. Just don't make a mess, you didn't even clean up from last night. I had to do it this morning," Kakashi let out a deep sigh, rolling his eyes as Rin seemed to be ignoring him. "I'm not a maid, you know."

The trio left the forested area; Rin and Naruto through the hidden path they had entered from while Kakashi chose to return through the trees. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be squeezing through that thicket of brush and thorns anyway. Rin and Naruto chattered animatedly as they walked before Rin halted and turned back to the Shinobi behind them.

"Hey, where are we going anyway?"

"Hm, I haven't decided."

"Ramen! I love ramen," Naruto offered a little too excitedly. Rin blinked, canting her head to the side.

"Ramen? What's that?"

"You've never had ramen? It's the best thing in the world! You've just got to try it."

"Ramen it is then," Kakashi chipped in, walking past the two children who quickly dashed down the path. Naruto lead the way, insisting he knew the best place, and Rin was only a half step behind the energetic boy. Kakashi shook his head in amusement, "What did I get myself into?"

They reached a small shop called Ichiraku and Naruto wasted no time barreling through the entrance.

"Old man Teuchi!"

"Naruto-kun, I was wondering when I would see you. Do you have money today?"

"I, uh, well-"

"I'll be treating him," Kakashi explained, stepping inside and taking a seat. Naruto and Rin scrambled into their own seats beside each other. Teuchi seemed surprised leading Kakashi to wonder if anyone else besides the Sandaime ever bothered to interact with the boy. He got his answer just as soon as Teuchi snapped out of it, a smile soon replacing the old man's features.

"Well, that's a first. Last person to treat little Naruto-kun here besides myself was the Hokage and that was a while ago now. Aren't you lucky Naruto-kun. What would you like?"

"Miso ramen with chaashu pork," Naruto exclaimed loudly with a grin.

"I'll have a shio ramen myself," Kakashi added. Teuchi looked to Rin who was still taking in all the toppings on the menu.

"Um, I'll have what Naruto's having!"

"Coming right up!" Teuchi turned away to ready the bowls. The food was ready in no time and the trio dug in the only sounds between them were the slurping of noodles and soup. Naruto practically inhaled his, placing the empty bowl down with a clack. He exhaled loudly, declaring his satisfaction. He wanted to ask for another but his allowance wouldn't let him and he wasn't sure Rin's guardian would allow it. He would be ok with just one bowl.

"Yup, Ichiraku is the best ramen place in whole world. I'll bet on it!"

"It is really yummy," Rin chimed in, finishing off her own bowl.

"Told you, didn't I?"

"Uhuh! Kakashi-san, you're so slow," Rin complained, staring at the older male's bowl that was still half full. "Can we head back first?"

"Fine, fine," Kakashi waved them off. Rin thanked Teuchi before she dashed out the door calling for her new friend to follow. Naruto scooted off his seat, glancing over at Kakashi.

"Um, thank you Kakashi-san," the boy mumbled before running off meeting Rin down the road. The pair hurried back to the apartment with Rin in the lead, laughing and joking the whole way. Kakashi let out a slow hum in response, not that the boy had waited for one anyway.

"There aren't many people who will give that boy the time of day," Teuchi piped up once the children had left. He eyed Kakashi for a moment. "Be good to him."

"That goes without saying Teuchi-san," Kakashi assured the man, handing over the money for their meals and slipping out the entrance.

The teen sauntered home, half wanting to hurry and make sure they hadn't destroyed the place and half wanting to take as long as possible. He settled for somewhere in between the two and walked back. To his surprise, the apartment was quiet when he arrived. Had he gotten back before them? Knowing Rin she could've stopped to admire a flower for the umpteenth time. Instead he found the two asleep on the floor in a pile, limbs tangled, mouths wide open emitting light snores. A few of Rin's drawings and brushes were scattered around them. Kakashi let out an amused snort. What had happened to all that energy not that long ago? He scooped the pair up one at a time, depositing them gently on the bed for now while he picked up the discarded art supplies from the floor.

Kakashi looked at the clock hanging on his wall. It was almost three in the afternoon. Honestly a nap sounded great to the teen right now; one child tired him out, two positively exhausted him. For a moment he considered dragging out Rin's futon but decided it was too much effort. Instead he laid horizontally across the end of his bed. Before he could tell convince himself he had important things to do and it was no time for a nap he was out cold as well.

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How do I keep ending up writing them in food places? xD This is entirely unintentional, it just ends up happening! I guess a lot of bonding between friends happens over food. Either that or I'm constantly hungry as I write. Oh well! Reviews would be lovely. Good, bad, missing something? Let me know what you think! I love constructive criticism most of all!


	5. Chapter 5

Rescue Me  
By Jet Set Yoyo

Summary: Nineteen year old Kakashi wasn't exactly a happy person, not after everything he had been through, but he could at least say he was content with where he was in life at the moment. When a foreign Shinobi infiltrates Konoha in the dead of night Kakashi finds himself in an interesting position and everything in his life turns upside down. Bit of an AU but not quite.

A/N: I completely forgot in previous chapters; thanks to DaOneInDaCorner and Prescripto13 for each sending me a review. Very much appreciated to hear any sort of feedback on how I'm doing. It's been such a long time since I serious wrote anything, I'm hoping I'm not too rusty. I took a bit longer than anticipated to get this chapter out. I got distracted by the new ep of Boruto and had to fight off some plot bunnies so I could focus on this.

* * *

If anyone had ever asked Kakashi what he thought of children, or whether he one day wanted to have his own, the teen would have scoffed in disgust and promptly dismissed the idea. Having Rin with him for a period of time was taxing enough in its own. Now every day since they had taken little Naruto out for ramen, he found the boy spent more of his time at the former ANBU captain's apartment than his own; it was like he had two of them now. The days had progressed as he came to recognize as normal; they would share breakfast and Rin would disappear to find Naruto. At some point in the afternoon the two of them would find their way back to his apartment if he didn't go out to find them first and stay there until nightfall. Kakashi supposed it could be worse, Rin had someone to keep her occupied now. Except the pair of them often dragged him into their nonsense. You wouldn't hear him say it aloud but the two little imps were beginning to grow on him.

Kakashi heard the front door open, assuming it was Rin and Naruto, and continued his paperwork. Ibiki had requested, with the Hokage's permission, that Kakashi write up his observations on Rin. Anything they could use to find out just what or who she was exactly and where she came from. A sniffle interrupted his thought flow, and craned his head to see Rin in the entryway.

"K-Kakashi-san, I can't find Naruto anywhere!"

"Maybe he doesn't want to play today," Kakashi offered the sobbing child; mildly uncomfortable with the display of extreme emotion. Crying kids weren't his forte, comfort was something he couldn't remember how to give since it had been so long since he had received any himself. Rin didn't calm herself though, rubbing at her eyes and hiccupping. The teen sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Why are you crying about it? Maybe he has something to do today."

"B-but Naruto said he would see me today! He never forgets his promises! He always meets me by the academy swing," Rin blubbered, leaving Kakashi to grimace in annoyance. Rin didn't seem to notice.

"Listen, I don't know but if he's not there to meet you then he's got something else to do. Go play or something, maybe he'll see you later. I'm a bit busy right now."

This wasn't anything that Rin had wanted to hear and it served little to calm her down. She was convinced something bad had happened but her energetic blond friend was in none of their usual spots. He never told her where he lived either so she couldn't go check on him there. Kakashi didn't care about him at all she thought bitterly, promptly turning on her heel and scampering back out the front door.

The shinobi sighed, returning to his recount of Rin's behavior; maybe he would write down her meltdown too. Even though by all intents and purposes he was positive that this was normal five year old behavior and had little to do with spy work or being a Jinchuuriki.

"Narutooo!" Rin called, taking to walking around town. The townspeople kept giving her odd stares and it was making her nervous. Was she doing something wrong? She had managed to stop bawling but couldn't exactly stop the tears from obscuring her vision every few minutes. A few hushed voices reached her ears, and Rin didn't like their tone. She hurried away from the area, deciding to look elsewhere. Maybe the old man Hokage would know where Naruto lived, she figured pursing her lips.

"Um! S'cuse me Hokage-sama!" Rin called out, rushing into the office. She had found her way to the Hokage tower and dashed past the guards who, contrary to their name, didn't have their guard up. She led on a chase down the hall and back to the room she had visited before, crashing through the door.

The Sandaime had been used to interruptions before; urgent missions, sudden emergencies, someone fretting over Naruto's weekly pranks. He hadn't quite expected a child to burst through his door with a gaggle of panicked shinobi behind her. Waving them off, since she was already here now, he clasped his hands together on the desk and pondered over the little girl.

"What is it Rin-chan? Why are you breaking down an old man's door?"

"Hokage-sama! I can't find Naruto and Kakashi-san won't help! He said it's 'cause Naruto doesn't want to play with me but Naruto _always_ meets with me when he says he will," the girl blurted out pausing only for a moment to take a big yulp of air. "So…Hokage-sama, do you know where Naruto lives?"

"Of course I do," Hiruzen laughed, wondering why he expected such a big emergency. Though it was a bit alarming that the boy was nowhere to be found, the village was a large place for one little child to search on her own. It was certainly possible she missed him; Naruto tended not to linger in many places for very long. "Where is Kakashi?"

"He's busy. He said Naruto probably just didn't want to play with me but I know better. Naruto _never_ breaks his promises," Rin emphasized, furrowing her brows. Would the Hokage not believe her either?

"Ah, I see. Well then, Naruto lives past the academy. Go along the path by the river and you'll see a big building with a red roof. He lives on the top floor; the door with the spiral on it," the Sandaime explained, offering the girl a soft smile as her frustration seemed to dissipate while he spoke.

Hiruzen hadn't heard from Kakashi that she had befriended Naruto. It was ironic and yet befitting that a suspected Jinchuuriki gravitated subconsciously to another one. Perhaps the companionship would be good for the both of them considering the dangerous beings they played host to. The elder could only speculate as to how hers, if she really had one, had been sealed. Every country had their different sealing methods and there was no clues yet to where she had come from.

"Thanks Hokage-sama!"

Rin had already disappeared from the office before the man could reply and the man's soft smile from moments ago turned to a deep frown. He called immediately for an ANBU and Otter answered the call within moments.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"Find Uzumaki Naruto-kun. If he's not in trouble, leave him be and report back. Keep an eye on little Rin too. She's heading to his home."

"Yes sir. Should I alert Kakashi-san?"

"Only if you can't find him. Dismissed."

"Yes sir." The ANBU shushined away, and the Hokage leaned back in his chair turning it to face the window with a heavy sigh. One way or another Naruto was always getting himself into trouble.

Rin sprinted back through the village as fast as he little legs could carry her weaving in and out of the various villagers milling about. Naruto had shown her all the shortcuts through the village that he used when he needed to run away quick. So instead of heading down one particular main road loaded with people she ducked into an alley and squeezed her way through a fence. Darting down the narrow passageway between the buildings she emerged just about midway through that main road. At least she had averted most of the crowd. Pushing past a group of Chuunin and across the road, she could hear one of them yell out for her to be more careful as she scrambled up a stack of crates and over a short wall. The academy was close now; just a few streets over and those were much less populated this time of day. _Almost there!_ Rin thought, pushing herself to keep going even though she was running out of breath. She did slow down, just a little, as she finally passed the academy. The road branched off and she veered left, taking the path along the river just as the Hokage had told her. Up ahead was a three-story building with a red roof. She scrambled up the steps, nearly losing her footing twice, until she reached the top and doubled over to try and catch her breath at last.

Otter was already there, having scoped out the little apartment out for dangers before waiting in the shadows. Rin knocked on the door once she could breath again, though still fairly winded by the long run. She pounded once more, shouting, "Naruto! Naruto are you home?"

There was no answer and Rin impatiently knocked once more before turning the knob; the door was unlocked. She peered inside and noticed the shoes in the entryway. She kicked off her own, closing the door behind her and moved to the door that lead into the little apartment itself.

"Naruto? Are you home?" Rin tried again but still no answer. She pushed open the next door to find a small bedroom. Bandages littered the floor and she found one little blond sitting cross-legged in the middle of the mess. She pouted, huffing at the boy, "Naruto! You didn't answer me! I thought we were going to play today."

"Sorry Rin, I was coming but then…" he trailed off, pulling a bandage around his wrist tight with his teeth.

"Then?"

"I fell," he stated simply, moving to bandage the next cut.

"You…fell? On what a pricker bush? You're all bloody!"

"Uh, well, I don't really know," the little boy frowned, blinking back a few tears. Rin dropped to the floor next to him and helped him wrap the rest of his cuts. Otter, having verified they were both safe, shushined himself back to the Hokage's office. Naruto frowned deeper, his eyes glossy with tears. "Rin I think you should go home."

"Why? Do you not want to come to my house today?"

"It's not that… I mean, I'm kind of tired now. I just want to rest a little. Maybe tomorrow w-" Naruto was cut off by a banging on his door. He stiffened, pulling Rin back to the floor when she tried to get up to answer it. He held her wrist tightly whispering, "Don't answer it. Come on, this way."

Rin blinked, very confused but didn't question her friend. She let him lead her by the wrist to the window by his bed. He let go of her and motioned for her to stay there before he scampered to the entryway. Now she was really confused, was she not supposed to be here? The Hokage had told her where he lived but maybe his parents didn't want visitors. Naruto hadn't exactly told her a whole lot about himself. He didn't need to; they just played games and pranks together at least the kinds of pranks that wouldn't get them in a whole lot of trouble. Rin wasn't exactly keen at being scolded by the Hokage, even if Naruto didn't care much about it. A few seconds later Naruto darted back quietly with both of their sandals, handing hers over while he slipped his own on.

"Hurry!" Naruto threw open the window and jumped out onto the balcony on the other side. Rin followed, letting out a frightened squeak as the front door flew open with a bang. "Rin jump!"

The pair launched themselves from the balcony railing, Naruto landed a lot more gracefully than Rin did but she quickly picked herself back up with a little help and they both took off down the path.

"Naruto! What was that," she shouted, still frightened by the ordeal. Naruto shook his head, grabbing her wrist and taking a sharp turn towards the training grounds. The silver-haired girl figured they were going to hide in his secret training spot unless he had more secret spots around the area. "Naruto!"

"Shh, they'll find us. You gotta be quiet, ya know? I don't want them to see you, 'cause then they'll-" Naruto cut himself off, not wanting to finish his sentence. This only served to confuse Rin more.

"They'll what? I don't get it Naruto. Who was that?"

"Don't worry about it, I can take care of it. I just don't want to drag you into it, okay?"

"If you say so…"

Otter reappeared in front of the Sandaime, kneeling before the man. Since his mask obscured his face, the Hokage couldn't have known the deep frown adorning the man's face. Hiruzen scrutinized the man for a moment, his hands once again clasped together across the desk in front of him.

"Well? Did you find Naruto-kun?"

"Yes sir. Naruto was at home, I waited for Rin to arrive before leaving."

"Good. Then all is well."

"Not quite, sir. Naruto was bruised and bloody from head to toe. He was in the process of bandaging himself up when I found him so I'm not sure what the cause was. However, it didn't quite look accidental. Not like simple child's play. Should I investigate?"

"No, I have a feeling I know what happened. I'll take care of it Otter. You're dismissed."

"Yes sir."

Naruto and Rin hid in their secret training spot behind the thick prickly bushes. Both children completely out of breath but desperately trying not to be loud for fear they would be found.

"Naruto," Rin whispered, worried green eyes gliding over the assortment of fresh wounds. Some had already bled through the bandages. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine, I heal fast anyway. They'll be nothing in a couple hours," Naruto reassured his friend, flashing her a toothy grin.

The sun was setting and the forest was getting dark. Still the pair didn't move; Rin had tried, assuming that whoever was following them was long gone by then but Naruto pulled her back down and shook his head. So they waited, and waited. Rin, now frustrated, got up again and yanked her wrist out of Naruto's grasp as he moved to pull her back.

"Naruto, I wanna go home. They're probably gone by now!"

"Rin, wait!"

Rin left the little area, wriggling through the thorny bushes and back out near the training ground. She stomped off through the area. Naruto scrambled after her, his eyes wide and wild with panic. Quickly catching up with her. Just as he did, a small group of men surrounded them. Some could have been civilians but the rest were definitely shinobi; seven in total sneered at the pair, kunai held firmly in their grasps. Rin gasped, shrinking back.

"So the monster made a friend, did it," One of the men growled making the two children flinch.

"Guess so. Either that or the monster has the poor thing under its spell. Could be a Genjutsu," Sneered another man.

"Know what shinobi do to monsters who try to hurt kids?" Questioned another man, the group closed in on the two.

"I'm not hurting anybody!" Naruto cried, futilely trying to put himself between Rin and the men. He didn't want her to get hurt because of him. "Don't touch Rin. Just…Just let her go home."

One of the men reached out, grabbing the little blond by his collar and lifted him up to face level. Naruto gasped and tried to wiggle his way free. Another reached for Rin but she ducked out of the way and launched herself at the man who had Naruto.

"Let him go! He didn't do anything! You're the monsters!" Rin grabbed the man's arm, trying to pry his hand off of Naruto. Instead he managed to throw her across the ground. She slid to a stop a few feet away and got back to her feet quickly. Naruto continued to struggle, his own strength no match for the older shinobi's. "Let him go!"

Silver chakra swirled around the girl, her teeth now bared and her canine teeth elongated. The group tensed, confused by the sudden shift and wary because of the immense chakra surrounding the child. The chakra began to take shape around her, forming the head of a wolf. Just as she was about to charge, Kakashi appeared between them.

"So this is what low rank shinobi do in their free time? Pick on defenseless children?"

"K-Kakashi-san," spluttered a few of the men. Naruto was dropped unceremoniously on the ground in the process. "What is that thing?"

"Hm? Her? She's a kid. And you're hurting her friend who's done nothing wrong," Kakashi drawled, narrowing his eyes. He disappeared, reappearing behind the group and knocked every one of them out before they could blink. "And you've just crossed the wrong person."

"Naruto… are you okay," Kakashi lifted the boy up and looked him over. The kid was covered in blood, soaked through his clothing and the bandages adorning his body. He had to swallow a deep growl and the urge to end these shinobi's lives right then and there. Cradling the small child in his arms, he didn't flinch as Rin launched herself at him and clung to his side.

"Is he ok Kakashi-san? Why were those men mad at him? They called him a monster and thought that he was hurting me?"

"He'll be ok," Kakashi replied quickly, glancing down at the boy who was slipping out of consciousness. He had lost a lot of blood. Kakashi started to run, shouting back at Rin, "Go home and wait."

Rin would have normally listened but this time she wanted to make sure Naruto would really be ok. So she followed, not as quickly, but she ran anyway towards the hospital where Kakashi was sprinting. Just as she left the area, a group of ANBU appeared to take the men away.

Kakashi reached the hospital in record time, dropping the boy into one of the nurses arms as he hurriedly explained. None of the wounds _looked_ deep but with all of them combined and the blood loss incurred, Naruto would be in a lot of trouble if they weren't healed immediately. He let the nurses do their jobs as he sank into one of the waiting room chairs. They rushed the little blond off into a room and the door closed behind them. Rin appeared, huffing from the run, and sat down beside her the silver haired shinobi.

"Didn't I say go home?"

"Naruto's my friend. I want to wait for him."

"Fine," Kakashi sighed, watching the child fidget in her seat. "What happened?"

"I went to find the Hokage and I asked him where Naruto lived 'cause you wouldn't help. So he told me where Naruto lived and I found him putting bandages on his cuts. Then those men came crashing through the door and we jumped out the window. They chased us and we hid in our secret training spot. It was getting dark and I thought they were gone. I didn't listen to Naruto and I was going to go home but then they found us," Rin blurted out, her sentenced jumbled and she barely took in any air between them. Finally she paused and took a deep breath, her eyes watering, "It's all my fault they found us."

"Maa, they won't be shinobi anymore. The Hokage takes attacking a comrade from the same village as a serious infraction. They'll be punished for sure."

"Are you waiting for Naruto-kun," a nurse called out, emerging from the room Naruto had been rushed into.

"Yes."

"We're done now. You can see him."

"How severe was it," Kakashi inquired, then frowned down at Rin. "Go see him, I'll be right in."

Rin looked from Kakashi to the nurse, wanting to stay and listen but she wanted to see Naruto more. After a moment she bounded into the room, hurrying to the bedside.

"Well, most of the cuts weren't deep but a few were stab wounds. Everything has been healed up. Since he's lost a lot of blood, we'll keep him the night so he can recover. Unfortunately this isn't the first time little Naruto-kun has come to us in such a state. We've reported it to the Hokage each time but no one has been caught yet."

"They've been caught this time. Provided there aren't any more, that should be the end of this nonsense," Kakashi growled, angry that old man Hiruzen knew about this and yet the boy was still left all alone. "How many times has this happened before?"

"Dozen's at least. This isn't even the worst of them. Last year on his birthday he was in here with three broken bones in his arm, his lip split, a black eye so swollen he couldn't even open it, and cuts all over his body," the nurse had to pause to wipe away a tear. "I know their reasoning… but to do this to such a sweet child, I don't understand."

"I'll leave Naruto with you then. I've got something I need to do, I'll pick the girl up when I'm done."

"I'll keep an eye out," the nurse replied, hugging her clipboard. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For looking out for him. Someone needs to."

Kakashi shushined away, smoldering with anger. The enraged shinobi marched his way to the Hokage's office and could barely restrain himself enough to knock politely before entering.

"What is it Kakashi?"

"You knew Naruto was getting beaten up and you did nothing to place protections on him? An ANBU detail, a guardian, anything," Kakashi spat, seething. How could he have let Minato-sensei's only child be in such constant danger in his own village?

"I was not aware it was that serious. There has been no leads as to any perpetrators and Naruto would not speak of it all the times I've asked. I heard from Otter earlier that the boy had been injured, has something happened?"

"He was beaten to a pulp, chased out of his own house. If I hadn't been searching for the girl I wouldn't have made it in time. She was using that chakra again, it had started to take shape rather than a swirling mass. Had I been any later, those men might have been dead. I called an ANBU unit in when I felt it. They should have picked up the perpetrators by now."

The Hokage let out a cross between a grunt and a deep sigh as he listened to Kakashi's recount of the events. Little Naruto was most certainly lucky that Kakashi had gone looking for Rin.

"And what of Rin?"

"She's with Naruto at the hospital."

"Good. She hasn't been injured?"

"No. They were mostly after Naruto."

"Ah. Then we should have nothing more to worry about I hope. If the perpetrators have been caught, it's quite likely any one else thinking of doing anything will stop and think twice."

"Are you going to place him under protection?"

"No. Why, do you believe he's still in danger?"

Kakashi was still fuming. Hiruzen was a kind leader, especially to the war orphans of the previous generation. The teen knew because he had been taken in as well when his father had died. Though it was Minato who started it, Hiruzen had abided by the man's wishes after his death and looked after Kakashi. How could he fail Minato now with the most precious thing he had?

"Perhaps he might be. There's no way to know yet if anyone else has been targeting him. I believe he should have an ANBU guard. Or he can stay with me."

"You already have Rin to worry about, Kakashi."

"Sir, I-"

"I will place an ANBU guard if that will make you feel better."

"Yes sir."

"Good. You're dismissed."

Kakashi wasn't entirely happy with the outcome of their conversation. Though he did succeed in getting protection for Naruto, it still didn't feel like enough. Granted the ANBU, whoever was chosen, would be just fine in keeping the kid from getting beaten up. Still, seeing the pain in those blue eyes just like his fathers made something stir in the pit of the teen's stomach. Though by now Naruto should have been used to him and Rin, he still acted like a kicked puppy when it came to normal everyday things most children wouldn't question to have ulterior motives.

With a slight bow, he left the office to collect Rin and check in on Naruto before heading home. When he returned to the hospital, he walked in on Rin chattering animatedly with the little blond. Both children perched cross-legged on the bed. It seemed Naruto was already feeling much better, despite being covered nearly head to toe in bandages.

"How are you feeling Naruto-kun?"

"Kakashi-san! I'm fine, those jerks can't get me," Naruto declared, jabbing his thumb towards himself for emphasis. "But, uh, thanks…for saving us."

"Good, I'm glad you're safe." This made the rambunctious child grin ear-to-ear. Kakashi looked far away for a second, his eyes focused somewhere past the pair. "I'm sorry I was late."

"You weren't late, you can just in time. Like a hero! Always just in the nick of time," Naruto laughed and Rin giggled along with him this time. Kakashi only rubbed the back of his head. He wasn't any kind of hero, not by a long shot. Who was he to cut down an injured kid's imagination though?

"Maa… let's just say this won't happen again. I'll make sure of it," Kakashi smiled at the boy as he motioned Rin over. "We'll come back for you in the morning Naruto-kun."

Naruto waved as the pair left, settling down to get to sleep. He stared out at the starry sky and couldn't help but grin even more. Someone cared. Someone actually, really, _cared._ He couldn't have been happier.

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Thanks for reading! Please review~


	6. Chapter 6

Rescue Me  
By Jet Set Yoyo

Summary: Nineteen year old Kakashi wasn't exactly a happy person, not after everything he had been through, but he could at least say he was content with where he was in life at the moment. When a foreign Shinobi infiltrates Konoha in the dead of night Kakashi finds himself in an interesting position and everything in his life turns upside down. Bit of an AU but not quite.

A/N: Sorry this one is later than I expected. Work has me exhausted. I had also hoped to do a double update today but I don't have it in me to write another chapter.

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The walk home was silenced. Rin seemed deep in thought; which was unusual in its own right. Rin was normally humming or making some sort of noise if she wasn't outright chattering his ears off. Honestly it depended on her mood and those changed quite frequently at the drop of a hat. Kakashi noticed but was busy enough trying to figure just exactly what he was going to do about Naruto. Before he had only saw the boy in rare passing; he never stopped to wonder how the child was doing emotionally or physically. The reminder of his teacher, his mentor that meant the world to him after his father had passed, was too much to bear for him to allow himself to become interested. Inside he was kicking himself for that bout of selfishness.

"That chakra you used," Kakashi broke the silence causing Rin to snap her eyes up; locking onto his. She looked panicked. The teen tried to choose his words carefully, "Do you know what you were trying to do?"

Kakashi was genuinely curious. If he had a window into her thoughts perhaps he could discern where her power came from. They still had no confirmation besides educated guesses and speculation to her Jinchuuriki status. Rin started to fiddle with the hem of her tunic, a nervous habit he hadn't seen since she first arrived.

"Not really. I just really, really, really, really wanted to save Naruto. He was choking and those men weren't going to let him go. I just, I ju-" Rin stopped as Kakashi halted mid-step. His hands were shoved disarmingly into his pockets as he peered down at the girl with a lazy stare.

"I understand. You just wanted to protect your friend." Rin nodded back, bottom lip quivering. Kakashi sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm not mad, so don't look so upset. Did Naruto-kun tell you why they were after him?"

"No, he was going to but he stopped. He said he could handle it by himself," Rin replied dejectedly. "Do you think Naruto doesn't trust me?"

"I doubt that's it. I think he's still trying to get used to having someone who isn't mean to him," Kakashi explained, feeling worse about himself as the words came from his mouth. When he was younger he pushed people away, so being alone wasn't that big of a deal. In fact he had preferred it. To a bubbly little social bug like Naruto, that loneliness must have been suffocating at best. It was a wonder the kid had made it this far. After a moment he added, "Give him time. When he realizes we're not going anywhere he'll probably open up."

Rin charged through the door as soon as Kakashi unlocked it, bee-lining to the closet and pulling her folded futon out. The weight of it made it hit the ground with a dull thud, almost taking her small frame with it. She dragged it over to the corner of the room that Kakashi had eventually rearranged to make her own. Flopping face down onto it she let out a content sigh.

"Go change your clothes and get washed up first. You're going to make your bed dirty," Kakashi scolded as he came in rearranging her discarded shoes to sit neatly next to his own. Rin rolled off the futon with a grin, dashing to the bathroom and slamming the door behind her. "Stop slamming doors too for crying out loud!"

"I didn't slam it, the wind took it! The window's open in here," Rin shouted back over the running water of the sink.

Kakashi didn't remember opening the bathroom window. Startled, he looked around for any other signs of entry. Nothing looked like it was outright missing and whoever might have been in here didn't seem to leave anything out of place. Even the papers he had been writing were still placed exactly where he had left them. He summoned Pakkun, ordering the ninken to search for any hint of intruders. Pakkun sniffed around the apartment, slipping into the bathroom as Rin emerged in her pajamas, and returned moments later.

"Nothing worth noting. There's a hint of something from the window but it's faded. Someone went out of their way to cover their tracks, scent and all," Pakkun reported before disappearing in a puff of smoke after his dismissal.

"Whoa! You gots a puppy? Lucky!"

"I have eight. Go to bed," Kakashi replied, ignoring the excitement in her voice. First Naruto, now this. He had the sneaking suspicion this might be about Rin but he had racked up his own tall list of enemies as well; one couldn't be entirely sure the purpose of the break-in.

Rin laid down with a huff, mumbling something about not being tired as Kakashi went to change and wash himself up. By the time he emerged from the bathroom Rin was already asleep so he settled himself into bed and turned off the light. Much later that night, Kakashi felt the distinct prickle of the hairs on his neck standing up, the unease pulling him from his slumber. He cracked his one good eye but he couldn't sense anyone inside the little room beside himself and Rin however they were very close. A slight shift of his head, he didn't dare move too much, and he caught the figure perched in the window. A strangled whimper floated across the room from Rin's bed; she must have seen it too.

"Kakashi-san," Rin whispered, sounding as though she was holding back tears. "There's someone at the window."

"I know. Don't move, stay there," he whispered back, moving his hand slowly underneath the cover of his blanket to the kunai hidden where the mattress met the bed frame. With the weapon clenched firmly in his grasp he swept the blanket off of him and launched it at the window in one fluid motion. It cracked the glass and flew through but the unknown nin had leapt away already. Quickly summoning Pakkun once more, the small pug gave chase and left Kakashi and Rin alone again. "Are you ok?"

"Mm…" Rin replied slowly, a mixture of tired and petrified. She rubbed her eyes, still fixed on the window. "Was that one of your animal people?"

"Animal…? Oh. It wasn't one of the ANBU. If it was they wouldn't have ran," Kakashi explained, realizing what the sleepy child meant after a moment. His own grey eyes were still fixed on the window as well, waiting for Pakkun to come back with news. "Go back to sleep, you're safe."

"Mm.. can't."

"My job is to protect you. You can sleep, it's fine."

Kakashi stayed perched in own bed, keeping the light out just in case the person returned. He wouldn't miss next time; not with his Sharingan out now. Rin shifted restlessly in her bed, tossing back and forth. Kakashi choose to leave her alone, eventually she would fall asleep when she was tired enough. After a while Pakkun returned through the broken window to Kakashi's side.

"Lost him. Led me on a wild goose chase before he up and vanished into thin air," Pakkun admitted gruffly. He hated letting Kakashi down but some things were just unavoidable. Kakashi scribbled up a scroll quickly. "Sorry boss."

"Thanks Pakkun. Bring this to the Hokage for me then get some rest. I'll keep watch the rest of the night."

Pakkun nodded solemnly and leapt away, leaving Kakashi to stay fixated on the window in the dark. He could still hear Rin shifting in her bed before seeing her dark form get up in the corner of his eye. She plodded over to his bedside. From the moonlight he could see she was exhausted and he felt a bit sorry for her. For a while she just stood there and he was about to tell her to go back in her bed but she climbed up beside him, sitting up against the headboard next to him.

"Can I…just sit here with you tonight," she pleaded sleepily. The kid looked like she was ready to drop any second but after what happened he didn't have the heart to make her move.

"Fine, just sleep ok? I'm keeping watch tonight."

"Mm..kay."

Rin was already drifting to sleep; her half-lidded green eyes now closed and her small frame slumped sideways to rest against his shoulder. Kakashi shook his head, offering her a fond smile. He would have laid her down across the bed if he wasn't taking up most of it so he adjusted the sleeping child to rest against him, the rest of her sprawled out at the foot of the bed. No one would see, he didn't have to worry in that aspect. If he did need to get up it would be difficult but he doubted it would come to that. Her tumbling off the bed was hardly that bad either, when the alternative could be death. It seemed unlikely the spy would return the same night regardless; at least not so obviously.

At some point in the night, he wasn't keeping track, Kakashi picked up the small child and returned her to her own futon. She was deep in sleep now and didn't even stir at being picked up. Hours had passed and it was nearly morning now, faint light hovered over the horizon between the buildings. He half contemplated calling Pakkun to take watch the rest of the night so he could get a few hours of sleep in but thought better of it. It wouldn't hurt to be extra careful. Though he trusted his ninken with his life, he didn't like wasting their time; he could stay awake a bit longer.

Morning came too slowly for the teen's liking. All-nighters weren't uncommon, especially when he often got lost in his books just as much as he stayed awake during missions. As the first rays of sunlight broke the horizon he pushed himself from his bed and trudged to the kitchen to make breakfast. Rin would likely be awake by the time he finished so it would cut down on the time it took to get her ready to go. She was mostly obedient, except when he was in a hurry. They still had to pick up Naruto from the hospital and he wanted to see the Hokage. The night felt like it had lasted forever but breakfast took only a short while. He was setting out the food in no time, just as Rin stirred.

"Mornin' Kakashi-san. Was that a bad dream?"

"Unfortunately not. Eat so we can go get Naruto-kun," Kakashi told the girl, already sitting down with his own pair of chopsticks about to dig in.

After breakfast, Rin stuck close to her guardian as they trailed down the path towards the hospital instead of running off like she usually did. He couldn't blame her but he realized he hated seeing someone so young afraid in their own home. The more he thought about it, the more it made him angry. Feeling a tug on his shirt, the teen looked down to find Rin staring worriedly up at him.

"Do you think they'll come back tonight?"

"Not likely. I'm going to talk to the Hokage after this. I already told you, my job is to keep you safe."

"Yeah but who's gonna keep _you_ safe?" Kakashi almost laughed. It had been a while since he had needed protection and despite not knowing who the mysterious person was he doubted he would need it.

"You underestimate me. I can keep myself safe."

"I guess. You are pretty strong. You beat up those guys from yesterday before they could even blink! Do you think it was one of them?"

"No, it wasn't. Those weren't highly skilled ninja. This was someone else to be able to outsmart Pakkun's nose."

The nurse from yesterday greeted them with a bright smile as the pair approached Naruto's room. Kakashi nodded his head at the woman while Rin gave her an excited wave before disappearing into the room.

"He's all set to go, just sign some papers at the front desk on your way out. Tell him not to get too wild for a couple weeks or he'll open the stitches," the woman told Kakashi as he passed, barely stopping a moment to listen to the end of her sentence. He assured her he would and ducked into the room. Rin was already hopped up on Naruto's bed, shaking the boy who was still asleep; loud snores bellowing from his little mouth.

"Narutoooo, wake up! Wake up you get to leave now!"

"Rin-chan, five more minutes," the sleepy boy muttered, rolling over to his side and hugging the pillow that should have been under his head. Rin puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and shook the boy again. Naruto's eyes cracked open to stare at the girl before he yawned and sat up. "Not fair, I was dreaming about this giant bowl of ramen. It was sooooo big I could swim in it. I was trying to eat it all but I was stuffed and then I fell in and it was kinda like going to a bathhouse. It was great."

"Naruto, you're so weird. C'mon already so we can go play!"

"You're going to have to take it easy a couple weeks at least so your stitches don't rip," Kakashi warned, repeating the nurse's instructions. "That means no training."

"Aw, that stinks," both children pouted in unison.

"You're right. That means the both of you will be in my hair constantly," Kakashi teased, though the children seemed not to notice the light-hearted tone of his voice. Naruto stuck out his tongue cheekily. "But maybe if you behave until the stitches come out, I'll show you both something cool."

"What, what," Naruto shouted, scrambling out of the bed. He was still in a hospital gown. "What are you going to show us, Kakashi-san?"

"It's a secret. You'll only get to know if you don't tear your stitches before you heal."

"I'm a fast healer, you know? I'll be good to go soon!"

"Good to know. Go get dressed Naruto-kun. We have to see the Hokage before I bring you home," Kakashi couldn't help but smile. Slowly he could see the light back in that boy's eyes. Despite the fire that burned in them, a testament to his determination to get people to acknowledge him, there was always that lonely dullness in them. One that felt all too familiar.

"Aw, can't I come to your house," Naruto whined loudly as he collected his clothes and started to pull at the curtain so he could change. Kakashi _had_ meant their house but Naruto didn't know that. When did he start liking the little imp this much?

"Ah, that's what I meant," Kakashi admitted as the boy threw open the curtain, fully clad in his navy shorts and white t-shirt, an orange spiral adorning the front of it. The boy sent him a puzzled look before his short attention span took over and he was dashing towards Rin.

"Well whatever, let's go," Naruto shouted excitedly, grabbing Rin by the hand. He reached for Kakashi, pausing momentarily as if debating with himself before slipping his little hand into the older teen's. Kakashi wanted to pull away but wide blue eyes stared up at him; worry, doubt, fear, and that same aching loneliness spilled out of them in waves. He couldn't bring himself to do it, so he closed his hand gently around the blond's bandaged hand. The surge of confidence and relief that followed from the boy was worth it.

Kakashi stopped the pair of them from scurrying out the front door as he paused by the front desk. Both of them bounced impatiently nearby as he signed a handful of papers. Then they were on their way. Naruto had been to the Hokage's office more times than he could count so he ran ahead, knowing just where to go. If Rin hadn't found the building by accident in her haste to look for him the previous day, she probably wouldn't have remembered where to go.

"Remember if I have to bring you back to the hospital you won't get to see something cool," Kakashi called after the rambunctious boy. His warning fell on deaf ears, Naruto and soon Rin were far ahead and almost out of sight. At least the boy's courage hadn't wavered from the ordeal. Though it was likely because he was used to the mistreatment. Rin on the other hand had wavered between sticking with her friend or staying by Kakashi's side. For a while she had hovered between them until Naruto picked up the pace and she dashed off after him.

The silver haired teen caught up with the young duo in front of the office. The guards had stopped them from entering the building. As Kakashi approached they allowed him to pass, raising eyebrows as he waved the two children along with him but kept themselves quiet. Rumors still floated around here and there about Kakashi of the Sharingan. Hiruzen had been expecting them and upon hearing the excited chatter of the two children permitted them entrance before Kakashi could even knock. Naruto came barreling through the door.

"Jii-jii," Naruto chirped happily.

"He's your grandpa," Rin questioned, confused.

"No, that's just what I call him."

"Oh."

"Quiet down you two," Kakashi commanded in a firm tone. The pair quieted, standing beside the teen in front of Hiruzen. "Hokage-sama I trust you received my message from last night?"

"I did. I sent a pair of ANBU immediately to keep an eye on your home the rest of the night and a team to track down the culprit. So far there is nothing."

"Pakkun couldn't find anything either. The scent in the house had nearly vanished by the time we had returned and the spy had disappeared as Pakkun gave chase."

"This is troubling. I have a number of ideas as to who might have been spying but without any concrete evidence we are no closer to capturing them and finding out what they're after. For now Kakashi, I know I don't need to say this but stay vigilant. I shall keep an ANBU guard posted until further notice."

"And Naruto-kun, Hokage-sama?"

"What about him? He'll already have the guard that we talked about last night. In fact I think he's probably been tailing you from the hospital."

"If whoever has been spying knows his relationship with us, it may become a danger to him. Aside from what happened to him yesterday, this might make things worse. You'll keep the guard with him until this is over?"

"I hardly think it's necessary but if you're that paranoid about it," Hiruzen began, scrutinizing the teen. He was just a boy himself, already tasked with a lengthy bodyguard mission of a young child. Now he picked up one more of his own volition. Perhaps Minato had been right to keep the boy so close; it might have been the only thing that saved him from the downward spiral he had once been on.

"Alternatively he can stay with me," Kakashi announced, cutting the old man off. Gone was his lazy, stoic stare. He was serious, his eyes locked with the Hokage's. "If you're unwilling to spare an extra ANBU for however long it might take."

"My, my Kakashi-kun I've never seen you so passionate about anything in all the years I've known you," Hiruzen chuckled, his own serious face breaking out into a soft smile.

Beside the teen Naruto and Rin had been whispering between themselves fervently. Rin caught Naruto up on the situation from the previous night. The little blond stopped abruptly, his head snapping up so his eyes could lock onto the teen beside him. _Did he just-?_

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi frowned, he had so much he wanted to add but since both Rin and Naruto were with him he couldn't mention Minato or the Kyuubi even vaguely. His eyes seemed to convey his thoughts enough that Hiruzen held up a hand.

"Mm, I understand Kakashi. However where are you going to fit him? As I understand, your apartment is quite small and the addition of Rin leaves limited space already even more limited."

"If that's the only problem you have with the idea, I can move back to the Hatake compound. I'd rather not but since my apartment is already compromised, as is Naruto's. It would likely be best if we changed locations regardless."

"Very well. If that's what Naruto wants, I won't try to dissuade you any further. You seem to have your mind set," Hiruzen shifted his gaze down the to little boy beside Kakashi who was still staring up at the teen. "Well Naruto-kun?"

"Y-you mean… did you really… I can stay with you and Rin?" Naruto stammered, disbelief affecting his ability to string together a coherent sentence. "Really, Kakashi-san?"

"Really. Would you feel safer with me, or an ANBU guard?"

Naruto would have never in a million years have believed it had he not heard it himself. His surprised face stayed stagnant for only a few seconds more before his lips spread to a wide grin that brightened his whole face.

"I'll stay with you!"

"Good. Well then take care of him Kakashi. I'll give you enough to cover the costs of his care every month. I trust you've been having no trouble with the amount I've been giving you for Rin?"

"No sir."

"Very well. If that's all you're dismissed."

The trio left the office, Rin and Naruto trailing behind as they exited the building and ended up back on the road. Kakashi noticed the silence, worried the boy had changed his mind. Even more so since Rin was also quiet. His expressions were a sight to behold; doubt, happiness, fear, pure bliss, to excitement were the shifts Kakashi caught as he watched the child through the corner of his eye.

"Hey…Kakashi-san?"

"Yes Naruto?"

"Are you sure," Naruto started, swallowing the lump in his throat nervously. "Are you sure it's ok that I stay with you?"

"If it wasn't, I wouldn't have convinced the Hokage."

"Oh. Right…" Naruto trailed off. After several more minutes of silence from the blond child he spoke up again. "Hey Kakashi-san?"

"Hmm?"

"You're the first person…" Naruto trailed off again.

"Huh?"

"You're the first person who hasn't looked at me like I'm a monster. You let Rin play with me when all the other adults don't let their kids play with me. Y-you came for me when I was in trouble, e-even if you just came to find Rin you saved me too," Naruto had stopped walking, a heavy stream of tears obscured his vision. He wiped at them fervently but they wouldn't stop. Kakashi smiled down at the boy, placing his hand gently on the little blond's head before hooking his arm around the child's shoulders and pulling him close. Naruto clung to Kakashi, burying his face in his stomach and drenching the poor teen's clothing with tears. When the tears stopped a little whisper just barely met Kakashi's ears, "Thank you." If not for his keen sense of hearing, he might've missed it.

Rin wasn't sure where to fit into the scene before her. She didn't understand much of what was happening; no one told her anything and much of what she had overheard from everyone was over her head. Granted she was happy Naruto would be staying with them, so many things confused her. Kakashi said they were moving? Where were Naruto's parents? Wouldn't they be sad if he left to go live with Rin and Kakashi? She knew Naruto didn't have any other friends but why was he crying about Kakashi being nice to him? Rin didn't get it at all and ended up awkwardly watching the scene unfold. When Naruto had calmed down and their travel resumed, Rin fell in step with her friend and grabbed his hand. Even if she wasn't sure what was happening, she could still be there for him she decided.

"I was hoping for a nap but it looks like we'll be cleaning and moving today," Kakashi yawned, the lack of sleep from last night catching up with him. They approached a large traditional style building with a wooden fence in front. Some of the shingles on the roof were broken and a few other things along the outside needed to be fixed, aside from that the house seemed to be in alright condition. Truth be told it had been a long time since he had the courage to come here. If not for the needed space, it might have been a lot longer. After unlocking the front door he slid them open, upheaving several years worth of dust back into the air. The two youngest spluttered and coughed while Kakashi went through the house opening every window and door he could. "Eh, this might take a while."

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Thanks for reading! Reviews are awesome, I like to hear people's thoughts/suggestions. Constructive criticism is the best~


	7. Chapter 7

Rescue Me  
By Jet Set Yoyo

Summary: Nineteen year old Kakashi wasn't exactly a happy person, not after everything he had been through, but he could at least say he was content with where he was in life at the moment. When a foreign Shinobi infiltrates Konoha in the dead of night Kakashi finds himself in an interesting position and everything in his life turns upside down. Bit of an AU but not quite.

A/N: I hit 1,000 views. Woo~ Thanks for reading everyone! Also Merry Christmas/Happy New Year and all that jazz.

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Kakashi set to work, most of all everything needed to be dusted and polished. The wood of the old building had dulled and dried out from years of neglect. Some of the floor boards had splinters. Rubbing his hand through his hair he trudged through the dust laden house towards the kitchen closet that still held all the cleaning supplies.

"Leave your shoes on for now you two," Kakashi called to the pair who were gawking at the fairly large estate from the front yard. At his voice, Naruto and Rin scurried inside to inspect the rest of the place. Kakashi used to clean the place from top to bottom every morning before his team meetings, though back then it was a lot less to really scrub because of his diligence. Now that everything had gone to waste for years, there would be a lot more to clean.

He decided to start with the kitchen. It was the safest place for now. The teen was still unsure how he would handle entering the room that once belonged to his father; the room that he _died_ in. Subconsciously he decided that would be the last room to get cleaned. Maybe by then he could work up his courage.

"Ne, Kakashi-san? What can we do," Rin inquired, looking around the filthy room as Kakashi pulled out an assortment of cleaning supplies and set them out on the countertop.

"Hm, how about sweeping and polishing the floor," he replied thinking about it a moment. He tossed a rag to Rin and the broom to Naruto. The boy's face dropped into an indignant pout as he caught it.

"Man, why do I have to sweep," Naruto whined, looking over at Rin who was procuring herself a bucket.

"Because it's the least likely way for you to end up hurting yourself again. If we divide the work we'll get more done faster. Go on you two, get every inch in all the rooms."

It took the better part of the day to get the whole place cleaned, the sun dipped lower into the sky but they still had several hours until sundown. Naruto had lost his energy for the work and was propping himself up with the broom as Rin scrubbed the last area of the floor.

"Ahh this is boring, are we done yet?"

"Just about," Kakashi could feel his heart beating quickly in his chest. He wasn't ready for this yet. "Naruto, do you have a lot of things to get from your house?"

"Not really," Naruto mumbled, thinking about the few things he owned that were truly valuable to him.

"Hm, how about you two go get it then. I'll send Bull with you and finish up here," Kakashi would prefer to tackle the obstacle that was his father's room all alone. He was sure he could swallow his emotions in front of the two children but inside he really wanted to face it alone. Slicing the tip of his thumb on a kunai, Kakashi formed the hand signs; boar, dog, bird, money, then ram. He pressed his hand down quickly to the floor and in a puff of smoke a large black dog appeared. "Bull, can you keep an eye on these two?"

Bull gave a nod before being tackled by the two, now squealing, children. Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, offering the bulldog an apologetic look. The large dog seemed not to mind, allowing Naruto to climb up on his back as he sniffed at little Rin. His head was the size of her entire torso and she giggled as his breath tickled her face.

Kakashi watched as the trio left, disappearing shortly down the path away from the house. He sanded down the last of the splinters in the wooden floor before taking off his sandals and setting them in the entryway. The teen swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, padded down the hallway and came to a halt in front of his father's room. The last time he had seen this room the floor was drenched in blood, pooled around the cooling corpse of his father. Tentatively he reached to slide the door open but his hand froze at the handle. Maybe he could just not use this room, he thought briefly before shooing the thought away. He had to do this. He _needed_ to do this. After the deaths of his teammates and his sensei, Kakashi began to understand his father's reasoning behind his own decision much clearer than when he was a young boy.

It took every ounce of courage to slid the door open. It felt heavy in his hand even though it slid across the track easily enough. He wasn't sure what he was hoping to see but the empty, dust covered room was exactly how he had left it after his father had died. Minus the corpse and blood of course; the police force had come and cleaned everything up for him. He half expected to feel a wave of overwhelming _something_ , however as he gazed into the room all he felt was the empty pit in his stomach. He stood staring at the memory of his younger self standing over his father. From that empty pit welled a sudden surge of frustration, anger, then finally loneliness and the overwhelmingly heavy sadness. He remembered Obito's words; _The White Fang was a hero. Shinobi who didn't follow the rules were trash, but those who abandoned their friends were worse than trash._ With a heavy sigh, Kakashi willed the ghost of a memory away and opened the windows in the room. Sunlight illuminated the room and chased away the vision. Kakashi rubbed his face wearily and got to work cleaning it up.

Meanwhile Naruto, Rin, and Bull traveled along the path towards his apartment. The young blond was still perched on Bull's back while Rin trotted alongside them. The building came into view and Naruto hopped off of Bull and the trio hurried up the steps and into the apartment once the boy unlocked the door.

"I'll just be a second! I have to find my backpack," Naruto shouted, diving under his bed. Only his little legs could be seen as he wiggled around. Rin canted her head to the side, watching with amusement. "Ugh, ew. What is this? Rin-chan! I'm stuck, help me out!"

Rin stifled a giggle, grabbing on of his legs as Bull gently pulled the other. Naruto came sliding out, a handful of melted candies stuck to his hair and clothing causing the girl to bellow with laughter.

"I think you forgot something," she gasped between breaths, still laughing.

"Yeah, but I found my backpack. I just need Gama-chan and my clothes. Ugh, there's one in my hair," Naruto grumbled with disgust, plucking the sticky candies off of him and tossing them haphazardly onto the floor.

"You don't have anything else?"

"Nope."

"Oh," Rin frowned, watching the boy dig out a few spare sets of clothes and a frog shaped wallet out of his drawers. "Hey Naruto? What about your Mom and Dad? Won't they miss you if you come stay with us?"

"I don't have a Mom or Dad."

Rin froze, feeling stupid as guilt replaced her curiosity. Naruto had grimaced a little as he said it but the frown was quickly replaced by his usual grin as he stuffed the rest of his things into his pack. The little silver haired girl bit her lip, trying to think of something to say but no words came.

"Rin? Hellooo," Naruto called out, waving his hand in front of the girl's face. Rin blinked her green eyes, coming back from her daze. "I'm all done, got everything important. Even had room for my ramen cups!"

"Oh, uh, yeah," Rin replied numbly; she was still thinking. Finally she spoke up again, following Naruto and Bull back out of the apartment. "Um, so you live here all by yourself? How come the Hokage didn't have you stay with somebody like he did with me?"

"Dunno. But everybody hates me so I guess no one wanted to take me. It's ok Rin, don't worry about it. I get to stay with you and Kakashi-san now," Naruto chirped, giving her a thumbs up. "Hey Bull, can we both ride on your back?"

Bull gave a half grunt, half snort towards the boy before jerking his head indicating they could climb up. Naruto and Rin whooped happily, scrambling onto the poor bulldog's back. Even together the pair of them weren't very heavy; both of them unusually small for their ages.

"Run Bull," cheered Naruto, sitting in front while Rin clung to his back to keep herself from falling off. The exasperated ninken humored them by trotting, not wanting either of them to get hurt though he was strong enough to handle running.

Kakashi dusted the rest of the room, peering over it to make sure he didn't miss anything. In the corner, a small picture frame caught his eye; a picture of himself as a small child looked back at him. He was barely a few years old, not even wearing his signature mask yet, and grinning up happily at the person who had taken the picture. Surges of memories from his younger years hit the teen quickly; his father coming to pick him up from the park, his father bringing him around town for errands. So many of the good memories outweighed the ones of him dying, of him withering away, of him trying hard to ignore the angered whispers of the other shinobi after that mission that seemed to have sealed his fate.

The teen clutched the picture tightly in his hand. His father hadn't ever been one for useless sentimental objects which explained the utter lack of decoration in the house and Kakashi's own dislike for anything that didn't serve him a purpose. The realization that he had forgotten how much his father loved him hit the ex-ANBU hard. Everything about the last few months of his father's life before his suicide had overwritten all of the warm memories the teen had for the man, shaping him into what he had become before Obito's words and Minato's guidance had shifted another change in him.

"Kakashi-saaaan!"

Kakashi put the picture back down, hearing one particularly loud blond's voice ring out from far away. He stepped out of the room, sliding the door shut behind him and out to the front of the house as he slid on his sandals. Bull bounded towards him, young Naruto perched on his back with an excited grin. At first he didn't see Rin but her little mop of silver hair came into view as she peered around Naruto. Bull halted in front of him, depositing the giggling pile of children on the ground unceremoniously and sent Kakashi a half-hearted irritated stare.

"Thank you Bull," Kakashi thanked the ninken, tossing him a treat as an apology before the bulldog disappeared in a puff of smoke. The teen turned to the young boy, scrutinizing the small backpack, "So, did you get everything Naruto?"

"Yup!"

"Right. Well bring your stuff in, I'll show you your rooms."

"Can I get the one with the cool stuff in it," Naruto blurted out, kicking off his sandals in the entrance and bounding down the hallway. Rin was right behind him, flinging her own shoes haphazardly just the same. Kakashi followed them in, a slightly amused smile hidden behind his mask.

"Eh, cool stuff?"

"Yeah Kakashi-san, this one?" Naruto stopped short of one of the bedrooms at the end of the hallway. Kakashi could only chuckle that the boy had picked the room that had once belonged to him; granted he hadn't used it since he was young.

"All yours then," Kakashi replied as the excitable child shouted happily and threw his backpack onto the bed. He then turned to Rin, pointing to the room next to them, "You can have that one then. Sorry but it won't be as 'cool.'"

"Okie doke, it's ok. I don't need a cool room," Rin chirped, smiling back at her guardian. "Say, there's only two bedrooms. Where are you going to sleep Kakashi-san?"

"I'm going to turn the study into a bedroom. First I need to go get some things from the apartment. You need to get yours too. I think it's probably about time we ate, we all skipped lunch."

"Finally! I'm starving," Naruto butted in, popping back out of the bedroom.

"Me too," Rin added, holding her stomach, "My tummy is grumbling at me. It's mad."

"Fine, fine. Let's go then. The sooner we move the rest of the stuff, the sooner we can eat."

"I want ramen!"

"We just had-"

"Me too! Ramen! Ramen!"

"Eh… we can't have ramen all the time," Kakashi chided the both of them.

"Fine, you can have something different," Naruto replied, scurrying back to his backpack and pulling out two cups of instant ramen. "I got supplies! Rin-chan, we can still have ramen! It won't be as good as Ichiraku but it's still the best."

"Yay!"

"Come on you two, let's go already," Kakashi sighed, heading back towards the front door. As he slipped his sandals back on, Naruto and Rin hurried to shimmy theirs on as well scampering out the door.

"Race ya Kakashi-san," Naruto taunted, taking off down the path with Rin beside him. The teen only waved them off; he was above racing small children.

"You win. I'm not racing but I'd still beat you there anyway."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Go ahead then. Run along, I'll meet you there."

Naruto smirked, accepting the challenge and kept going as fast his little legs could carry him. Rin ran alongside him and the pair laughed as Kakashi disappeared from their view. If they got far enough ahead, he wouldn't catch up.

"Aw, I should have betted some Ichiraku on it. Then he would _have_ to take us there for dinner."

"Darn. Oh well, we can still say we beat him. Maybe next time."

The pair hurried along the paths, turning left then right, then right again until Kakashi's apartment was in view. Just as they were approaching the entrance, Kakashi appeared in a plume of smoke waving lazily at them.

"Took you long enough."

"What!? That's cheating," Naruto cried indignantly, pointing at the lazy teen.

"No fair Kakashi-san!"

"There weren't any rules. I just had to beat you here, no?"

"But that's, ugh. Fine, you win Kakashi-san," Naruto grumbled, stomping into the apartment as the teen unlocked the door. He continued mumbling unhappily as he went.

"Here, put your stuff in this," Kakashi said, ignoring Naruto's grumbles as he tossed a pack towards Rin. She didn't have much yet, just clothing and a few things to entertain herself. The teen got to work putting his own smaller items into another backpack. For the larger items he would need, he decided to seal them into a scroll. That way there would be only one trip. The sun was close to setting now and from the audible growls coming from both the children's stomachs it was a wonder why either of them weren't complaining loudly by now. He was pretty hungry himself and mentally chided himself on getting so distracted that he forgot lunch. Two cranky five year olds were not what he wanted to deal with after getting no sleep the night before.

With the last of everything packed and the necessary larger items sealed into a scroll Kakashi zipped up the backpack. He peered over at the broken window from the night before and frowned. Since they had ANBU guards now it was unlikely whoever was watching them was present but he hoped they didn't know about the Hatake compound. He was half tempted to call out his ninken to guard for the night but that hardly seemed necessary. The ANBU would be more than sufficient to keep them safe. Rin and Naruto seemed to catch on to his intent stare towards the window, and worry washed over the both of them.

"Do you think that person will come back," Rin piped up, looking up him. Kakashi frowned, shaking his head in return as he offered the two a soft smile.

"No. Don't worry, I already said it's my job to protect you; both of you."

After they returned to the Hatake compound, everything was put away, and Kakashi had finished making dinner the trio sat at the table in the kitchen. Two steaming cups of instant ramen were in front of Rin and Naruto while Kakashi indulged himself in a more fulfilling meal of salt broiled fish, miso soup and rice. He made extra, knowing one cup wouldn't fill either of the two up but the pair insisted on eating their ramen first.

"Hey Kakashi-san?"

"Hm? What is it Naruto-kun?"

"Do you think I can get into the academy soon?"

"Probably, can you pass the entrance exam?"

"Definitely! I've been practicing. Rin has too, can she go to the academy?"

"Eh… that I'm not sure about," Kakashi drawled, shifting his gaze from the young blond to Rin's hopeful stare from across the table. "Do you want to go to the academy?"

"Yes! I want to be a ninja with Naruto. He's gonna be Hokage and I want to be a strong kunoichi!"

"I'll have to ask the Hokage. If he agrees you both can take the entrance exam. It won't be until after winter, you've still got plenty of time to practice more. Here though, I don't want you two back at the training grounds."

"Aw but that's my secret spot!"

"It's not so secret anymore is it? The backyard here is good enough to make a new course to run. You won't get any better if you run the same course over and over anyway."

Naruto pouted, furrowing his eyebrows as he considered his guardian's words. Finally his chipper grin returned and fierce determination flashed across his eyes that he locked with Kakashi's own grey ones. Rin was far less stubborn about it; rolling around the notion for about as few seconds as Naruto did with serious contemplation. She nodded, her own determination shining through.

"Ne, ne Rin-chan. We can make it a super long course. Much better than the old one. I made that one forever ago and it's too easy for me now. This one will be a hundred times, no wait, a thousand times harder. Then I can be the strongest ninja ever," Naruto blabbered excitedly. Kakashi could only thank the gods his sensei's son was easily convinced by such ideas.

As the children chattered at the table, fleshing out plans and ideas for their new training course, Kakashi cleaned up from dinner and disappeared into the sitting room. It had been a while since his living quarters had such a large amount of space. Once he had moved into his apartment, a single room was all he needed to himself. It wasn't as if he spent much time there; when he wasn't on missions he was still often elsewhere in the village. For now he could read in peace, Naruto and Rin were occupied and their voices weren't as loud and distracting from the other room. The ANBU guards were likely perched somewhere outside keeping watch so he could finally unwind. No sooner than he had read a few pages, Kakashi had promptly fell asleep on the couch with his book draped over his eyes.

After a few hours and many doodles of their new course strewn across the kitchen table Naruto and Rin had grown bored and tired. Rin yawned loudly, her eyes drooping from exhaustion; the day had been too long. Naruto on the other hand was still brimming with energy, though far less talkative than he had been earlier. Putting some finishing touches on his final drawing, his hands covered in smudged ink and a few black finger prints on his cheek, the little blond slammed his hands down on the table.

"Done," he announced triumphantly, waving the paper at Rin. "Look Rin-chan, this has _everything_! It's perfect!"

Rin blinked sleepily, peering over the paper of illegible scribbles and notes. She pursed her lips, trying to concentrate but was unable. Naruto was still looking quite proud of himself, until Rin took too long to share his excitement.

"What, did I miss something?"

"Say Naruto-kun, I was just thinking. We haven't seen the backyard yet…so how will we know if this one will work? Also… I can't read this. It's so messy," Rin admitted, barely finding enough energy to let out a giggle.

"What? It's all right here! See this is where we would climb into the trees but first we have to run along here and hit these targets. Then this target will swing down and we have to dodge, _then_ we go into the trees and then-"

"I don't even know what you're saying anymore. I'm so tired Naruto-kun, I'm gonna go to bed. Mmkay?"

"Aw fine. I guess it is getting kind of late. Where's Kakashi-san?"

"I dunno, he went into the sitting room after dinner but I wasn't really paying attention after that. Nighty-night Naruto-kun. We can figure out more in the morning," Rin explained, yawning loudly again and her head drooped. She padded out of the kitchen and disappeared down the hall to her room leaving the blond to himself. He was still bored, not quite ready for bed himself. All of a sudden he felt overwhelmingly alone.

"I bet Kakashi-san can read it," he whispered to himself making an excuse to seek out the teen. Naruto hurried into the sitting room only to find the silver-haired teen fast sprawled across the couch. He let out a small disappointed sigh that Kakashi had already gone to sleep too leaving him the only one left awake in the house. Rather than head off to bed as well Naruto decided to climb up on the couch clutching his drawing. He carefully navigated over the teen's limbs, settling himself into the limited free space left on the couch.

Kakashi was no longer sleeping, having sensed Naruto's entrance and when he eventually joined him on the couch but since there was no hurry to move the ex-ANBU stayed put; not even shifting the book from his face. He waited for the boy to say something but nothing except silence met his ears. Curious, Kakashi lifted the book from his eyes and found Naruto just about to fall asleep. He was tucked so tightly in between Kakashi and the back of the couch it was a wonder the boy was even comfortable enough to do so. Just as his consciousness left him, Naruto slumped forward still clutching his drawing, light snores already coming out of his mouth. With a soft smile Kakashi shifted carefully, catching the sleeping child from falling forward off the couch and held him close as he got up. Naruto stirred briefly but didn't wake, snuggling closer to the sudden source of warmth. Kakashi brought him to his room, removing the discarded backpack from the bed before setting him under the covers.

"You're not alone anymore Naruto," he whispered knowingly to the boy, smiling gently as Naruto shifted to cuddle one of the pillows on the bed before tucking him in. He knew the child couldn't hear him but hopefully eventually Naruto would realize that on his own.

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Sorry this one was a bit later than I intended; work and holidays are insane. I'm dead exhausted and just getting over a stomach bug. I have to say I'm not entirely happy with this chapter but I can't quite put my finger on why. As always thanks for reading! Reviews are great and I really would love some constructive criticism as I get back into writing. Going back to earlier chapters and some of my other works I can see how stagnant my writing has been because it's been too long since I've done it. Maybe I should look for a beta reader? Or at least someone to bounce ideas off of.


	8. Chapter 8: Part One

Rescue Me  
By Jet Set Yoyo

Summary: Nineteen year old Kakashi wasn't exactly a happy person, not after everything he had been through, but he could at least say he was content with where he was in life at the moment. When a foreign Shinobi infiltrates Konoha in the dead of night Kakashi finds himself in an interesting position and everything in his life turns upside down. Bit of an AU but not quite.

A/N: Holidays are over and I'm no longer sick so hopefully work will slow down enough to get me back on a regular update schedule. I've been working on each new chapter little by little when I have the time/energy.

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In the coming weeks much of Kakashi, Rin, and Naruto's days had settled into a systematic lull. Kakashi spent much of his time keeping an eye on the pair of mischievous five-year-olds. When he wasn't babysitting he was scouring for information on the strange figure from that incident as well as reporting on Rin to the Hokage. Needless to say the teen had his hands full most days. Naruto, true to his word, put together a training course in the backyard with Kakashi's reluctant permission; if only to keep the two of them within his or the ANBU guards' eyesight. Rin stuck to Naruto like glue, the duo inseparable. It didn't help that neither of them, as far as Kakashi could tell, had any other friends.

The day was cold and dark, thick clouds blanketed the sky and blocked out the sunlight. The chill of winter had long since set in and occasional stray snow flurries drifted through the air. Kakashi had written his report to the Hokage for the week, noting no particularly important events or changes, and sent Pakkun off with the scroll to deliver it promptly. From there he settled down on the couch to read.

Naruto was antsy, unable to keep still for very long anywhere in the house. In the course of fifteen minutes he had wandered from his room, to Rin's, to the kitchen, to the sitting room trying to find something to occupy his attention. Unfortunately for the three of them, Kakashi never had any toys or games for them to use nor had he bought any since the two of them had come to live with him. For days like this; there was nothing to do indoors except read or sleep. While he was content to read for hours on end, in hindsight he imagined that such a task for two balls of energy would be far too boring.

Rin had been quiet most of the morning, starting at breakfast where the older teen had noted she seemed unusually distant but not enough so to report it to the Hokage; not yet at least. Unlike Naruto, she hadn't fussed about being cooped up inside for the day and settled herself into a blanketed cocoon on the opposite end of the couch from Kakashi. Naruto had spent his best efforts trying to get her to play a game but to no avail.

"Rin-chaaan, I'm bored. Let's _do_ something," Naruto whined for the umpteenth time, grabbing the girl's hand and giving her a tug. Rin pursed her lips briefly, before offering a reassuring smile.

"I don't really feel like playing right now Naruto-kun. Sorry, I think I'm going to go to my room," she replied, the smile hadn't quite reached her eyes and Naruto let out an annoyed huff. Kakashi glanced up from his book, side staring at the both of them. Rin wriggled herself out of the blanket she was wrapped in and meandered out of the sitting room back to her bedroom closing the door behind her.

" **I know you can hear me brat. I've had enough of this silent treatment while you fool around with these idiots, answer me!"**

" _ **I don't know what you want from me."**_

" **From you? Nothing whelp. I want out."**

" _ **But**_ _who_ **are you?"** Rin had plopped herself down on her bed, re-cocooning herself in her blankets to ward off the cold seeping through the walls. She frowned deeply, eyes glazed and distant as she listened to the strange voice. It was familiar yet foreign and she couldn't place where such familiarity came from; everything before waking up in the forest outside of Konoha was still a fuzzy mess.

" **How pathetic; you really have forgotten everything. I'm the reason you're still alive,"** the deep voice snarled through her head causing the young girl to flinch involuntarily.

" _ **Stop being so confusing! I don't understand what you mean! Tell me who you are and why I can hear your voice!"**_

Rin breathed in sharply, holding back tears of frustration. Their conversation seemed to be getting nowhere quickly. The voice had been growing more persistent by the days and was soon hard to ignore; it took most of her energy to deal with it. However all subsequent conversations with the deep voice in her head led to her to more questions rather than answers. It always ended with the demand to be let out which further frustrated the child. It was hard to focus on anything else when the voice began nagging; loud enough to sound like someone screaming in her ears but quiet enough that no one else in the room could hear it. Recently she felt as if she was going insane but even previous days hadn't been as bad as today.

" **Best remember soon whelp. The moment that seal weakens I'm taking over."**

With that the voice went quiet. Several minutes passed with not another peep but instead of relief at the silence, Rin was afraid; terrified rather. She shook in her blanket cocoon as though a biting chill had swept over her, biting her lip to keep from crying loudly as tears spilled over her chubby cheeks. At first, when the voice wasn't so frequent, the young girl had considered asking Kakashi about it but thought better of it. Voices in your head weren't normal no matter what and though she had come to lend her guardian a moderate amount of trust she wasn't willing to declare outright that she had gone of the deep end. So she suffered in silence.

"Rin-chan," Naruto's voice called out tentatively from outside her door. Rin panicked, hoping he wouldn't enter and see her now as she ducked her head under the blanket.

"I-I'm not feeling good. I'm going to take a nap Naruto-kun," Rin called out after a moment of desperately trying to quash the wracking sobs threatening to escape the minute she opened her mouth. She held her breath, waiting for his voice.

"Oh… ok then. Feel better Rin!"

Only when the light thump of his feet went away did she release the air she had been holding in, just in case her voice betrayed her, and pulled her knees to her chest burying her face in them, "What's wrong with me…"

" **You won't face the truth. Maybe that's why you can't remember."**

" _ **The… truth?"**_

" **You're nothing without me, you would be dead. Yet you can't even return a favor. Ran off with your tail between your legs and conveniently 'forgot' everything."**

" _ **Return a favor? Where did I run from? Tell me! I want to know where I'm from,"**_ Rin was desperate, this was the most the voice had said to her in days; useful information-wise at least. Most of the noise was still snarling accusations. _**"Please tell me."**_

" **Hah! You're a gutsy little whelp,"** the voice cackled loudly. **"I have no obligations to tell you anything. When I get out I'm going to kill everyone."**

" _ **No! You can't!"**_

" **What makes you think you've any authority over me whelp? You can't even remember who I am!"**

" _ **Please… don't hurt Kakashi-san and Naruto-kun… or anyone. I like it here."**_

The voice let out a deep roaring laugh and once it tapered off it went silent once more. Rin gritted her teeth, surging emotions keeping her from doing anything else. She was tired now; it felt like every ounce of energy had been sapped out of her and she slumped over in the pile of blankets falling asleep.

The nap was not a restful one; Rin tossed and turned, further tangling herself into the wad of blankets. There were no peaceful snores, only pained cries and fearful whimpers. At one point Naruto had peeked in, curious of the noise coming from his friends' room, but decided against entering for lack of ideas on how to help. Kakashi on the other hand was no stranger to trauma induced nightmares. Though he wasn't sure why Rin would be so troubled; to him there was no particular event that could have triggered Rin's recent distant and lethargic behavior. The window incident had been quite a while ago already; nearly a month and a half.

When the silver-haired shinobi could stand the whimpers no longer he slid off the couch and strode down the hallway. Naruto was once again by Rin's door looking worried, momentarily passing that glance up to him. Kakashi put a reassuring hand on the boy's head and pushed the door open. It took him a minute to actually find the whimpering girl in the mass of blankets she had twisted herself into, carefully peeling them away so as not to spook the child awake and make matters worse. Tears streamed down her contorted face, now scrunched up in some manner of pain. There was a split second of hesitation before the nineteen-year-old place his hand on her shoulder sending her eyes flying open despite his attempt to wake her gently. She sucked in air sharply, green eyes darting around the room in a wild panic before settling on the teen.

"K-Kakashi-san…" Relief filled her voice, half choked by the adrenaline and the extended time she had been whimpering.

"You ok?"

"Mm. Just a bad dream," Rin half lied, averting her gaze from his calculating one only causing him to frown in return.

"If… If something's bothering you just say so," Kakashi told her, a little more forcefully than he had intended indicated by her sudden flinch. He softened his tone, "Did you remember something?"

"No, it was just a bad dream. Really," Rin assured him, solidifying the lie in her mind until she believed it to be true; at least enough to try and fool her guardian. "It just felt so real."

"Rin-chan? Are you ok," Naruto blurted out, still standing awkwardly by the door. Rin smiled, nodding her head. The little blond beamed, ungluing himself from the spot he joined Kakashi at the side of her bed. "Good. You sounded upset."

"No, I'm ok. Like I said, just a bad dream."

"Ramen always makes me feel better after a bad dream!"

"Naruto-kun, go wait out there. I need to talk to her alone," Kakashi interrupted before Naruto could begin his ramen rant. The bundle of restless energy only puffed out his cheeks in annoyance, muttering a few grumbled under his breath as he stomped away. Kakashi shut the door behind him putting Rin back on edge. Guess her lie wasn't very good. The teen returned to her bedside, noting her fiddling nervously with the edge of the blanket between her fingers. He was torn between being gentle or forceful. Too much of either would get him nowhere; Rin could be stubborn enough when she wanted to be. He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to figure out where to start. "Tell me what's bothering you."

"Nothing, really. I'm ok. It was only a bad dream Kakashi-san. Honest," Rin stuttered, averting her gaze from Kakashi's piercing grey eyes. She wasn't doing a good job at being convincing, she knew that yet part of her really wanted to tell him. The other part of her wanted to run far away so he wouldn't think any less of her. She was already aware that despite his mild fondness for her and Naruto, Kakashi still kept them at arms length. This was a mission to him, nothing more and it only made her guilt and hesitation amplify.

"I don't believe you. Even Naruto, as dense as he is, has noticed you haven't been yourself in days," Kakashi growled lightly, trying his best to give her a stern glare that wouldn't send her off crying. "If you let these things fester, it'll only get worse. Believe me."

Rin's gaze dropped to her hands. Kakashi waited patiently, seeing her face shift through a myriad of emotions. He supposed it was probably hard for her to trust him much more than she already did; it wasn't as if he did much for her to earn it. Rin opened her mouth to speak, snapping it back shut quickly before repeating the process. Her internally struggle wasn't well hidden.

"I think… There's a monster in my head," she said finally, blurting it out quickly yet quietly. She neglected to lift her gaze and clutched the blanket in her hands tightly, waiting for him to send her back off to the interrogation division or the police corps. When nothing but silence came she dared lift her head, wide frightened eyes slowly connecting with Kakashi's.

Thankfully enough a majority of Kakashi's face was obscured by his hitai-ate and mask because he couldn't hold in his surprise, nor the deep frown that followed as he pondered over the implications of her words. When he realized she was staring up at him waiting for some kind of response as her emotions betrayed all of her thoughts he softened his gaze.

"So what does this monster want then? What's it saying to you that has you this upset," Kakashi questioned, replacing his expression with his usual half-lidded stare. Oddly enough Rin was used to the look and it served to calm her if only a little. She couldn't help but be surprised that he hadn't tossed her right out of the house, then again she hadn't been specific in her explanation.

"It wants…out? It said it wants to hurt everyone. It's mad at me and it yells at me all the time because I forgot everything," Rin's lip quivered as she spoke. Her tears returned as she continued. "I don't want it to hurt everyone. I want to stay here but I also want to remember. I don't know where I came from or what I was doing or even if I have any family but I really love Konoha. I really like staying here with you and Naruto-kun and Grandpa Hokage-sama. I'm scared and I don't know what to do because it won't stop and I don't know if it can get out or if I could stop it either."

Kakashi listened to the child babble, barely not in hysterics as she went on. Though there wasn't much to go on but at least now he could reasonably assume she was a Jinchuuriki instead of just speculating. The beast's threats were something else though; not that he was well versed in anything relating to the Bijuu. In fact he wasn't even sure which tail was sealed inside of her.

"Is there anything else you can tell me about the monster in your head? Do you know what it looks like? Does it have a name?"

"Um, I'm not sure. It used to only talk once in a while to me but even now that it's talking a lot I still don't know anything about it. It just yells at me…"

"Hm. I'll talk to the Hokage and see what I can dig up."

"You're…not upset?"

"Why would I be upset," Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the child and she ducked her head sheepishly.

"Because…I… I don't know."

"I already told you didn't I? It's my job to protect you," Kakashi smiled behind his mask, his visible eye closing was the only indication. "Why don't you spend time with Naruto, keep your mind off of everything. I'm going to see if the Hokage will see me."

"Ok," Rin replied though she honestly didn't feel like doing anything. Her energy was still drained, the nap hadn't done anything to alleviate her exhaustion. Kakashi gave her a pat on the head and headed out immediately. Since he had already sent Pakkun with his report for the week, he didn't want to wait for the next report to let Hiruzen know about it.

Later that night after Kakashi had gotten back, dinner had long been devoured, and everyone had settled into bed for the night Rin didn't have any high hopes for sleeping. She laid awake in her bed staring at the ceiling. Exhaustion threatened to send her to dreamland but the thought of those terrible nightmares kept her from letting herself drift off. She couldn't even remember what happened in the dreams but the fear of them lasted, keeping her from shaking them off as just regular nightmares.

" **Don't you want to go back where you came from? Stupid whelp. Look at you wagging your tail for these imbeciles."**

" _ **You won't even tell me where I came from, how am I supposed to go back?"**_

" **If you keep your promise, I might show you."**

" _ **What promise?"**_

" **Let me out."**

" _ **No. You'll hurt Kakashi-san and Naruto-kun."**_

" **Peh. Cheeky whelp. Guess you'll find out the hard way; I don't take no for an answer."**

Rin could feel her body tingle, wisps of grey colored chakra seeped out of her body and swirled around her. She could feel her consciousness slipping as the chakra became denser, coating her body like a thick cloak. The tingling turned quickly to a searing pain and the last thing she saw before blacking out was her bedroom door burst open; Kakashi and Naruto staring wide-eyed at her. Someone was calling her name she was sure but she couldn't decipher who.

When her consciousness returned, Rin found herself sprawled on the ground in the forest. She had no idea where she was, how far she had gotten from Konoha, or even how she had gotten there in the first place. Last she could remember was pain and passing out. Panicked, she jolted upright and looked around. There was nothing in her surroundings to give her position away; not that she could remember anything from outside of Konoha's walls regardless. A soft moan caught her attention and she jerked her head towards the sound; Naruto was unconscious beside her. A part of her was relieved he was ok, the rest of her was even more panicked that the both of them were lost in the middle of nowhere and she couldn't even remember how they got there.

" **Keep moving whelp or I'll take over again."**

" _ **What did you do! What happened, why are we here? How did we get here? Where's Kakashi-san? Did you hurt him!? I'll-"**_

" **You'll do nothing. Keep moving, we're almost there."**

Naruto stirred, blinking open his eyes and rubbing his head. He sat up and peered around, catching sight of Rin but also their surroundings. The little blond was confused and rightfully upset.

"Rin-chan? Are you ok now? Where are we?"

"I don't know Naruto-kun. What happened? I don't remember anything."

"Your chakra kept swirling and swirling and then it covered your whole body! You looked like a big wolf but you didn't sound like you at all! Then you knocked Kakashi-san over and picked me up. I think I passed out because I don't remember anything either."

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun. It's all my fault," Rin sniffled, turning away from the little boy. Naruto's eyes widened and he waved his hands in front of him rapidly.

"It's ok, it's ok. I'm not hurt and I know you didn't mean it. Is that… wolf thingy a special jutsu? You were really strong!"

"I don't… I don't know what it is," Rin admitted, feeling guilty. Hopefully Kakashi was alright. Now that she did exactly what she was afraid of, even if she didn't have control over it, what would everyone think of her now? Naruto didn't seem to think less of her, she hoped at least. "Should we stay here, Wolf-san wants us to keep going. I think it's going to show me where I came from."

"Huh, really? Maybe you can find your parents then! I don't really know where we are, so maybe we can ask how to get home once we get there," Naruto chirped, a little more energetic than moments before. Rin smiled; at least Naruto always knew how to cheer her up. It didn't quell the guilt in the pit of her stomach but it at least hushed her negative thoughts.

The pair got up off the ground and, with a little directional help from Rin's mysterious head monster, they pressed onwards through the forest. **"Just walk straight whelp."** The booming voice barked. The only light to guide them was the occasional speckles of moonlight shining through the canopy above.

"It's…kind of scary out here in the dark," Rin piped up as they trudged along, glancing left and right. Naruto hummed back in agreement, a shiver traveling up his spine. Eventually the canopy opened up as the trees spaced out and with the additional moonlight, the both of them were positive they were nowhere familiar.

Up ahead the forest floor dropped down forming a staircase. Naruto and Rin hesitated at the top, wary of the darkness obscuring what was at the bottom from their view. They exchanged glances, just as the voice inside Rin growled, **"Get inside already whelp."** Rin took Naruto's hand, tugging him gently down the steps with her.

"The voice said it's here," Rin explained, letting her eyes adjust as much as they could to the deepening darkness. At the bottom of the steps was a door adorned with snake carvings; a deep crack ran down the right side. "I wonder if anyone is home? This place is kind of creepy."

"Definitely creepy, are those snakes?"

"Yup. Gross."

It took the both of them to shove the large door open revealing the cavernous hallway. Instantly torches lit themselves along the walls once they stepped inside. No one emerged from the depths of the hallway, in fact from the look of it the place seemed almost abandoned. Parts of the wall crumbled, some of the torches had broken off and laid forgotten on the floor, and thick clouds of dust filled their lungs as they walked. The air was stale and musty with faint hints of something rancid.

"Hello? Anybody home," Rin called out, her voice echoing off the walls. She furrowed her brow when no one responded. "What the heck."

"Wait, there's a light up ahead! In that room," Naruto blurted out, squeezing Rin's hand. They both ran ahead towards the soft green glow emitted from the half open door. What met them wasn't what either had expected and a foul smell bombarded their senses. When they pushed through the door, inside was just as abandoned as the rest of the place. Large containers lined along the middle of the room, most of them broken. Inside of each one laid a corpse. Rin gasped, tears forming in her eyes. Naruto dropped to his knees, retching on the floor. "A-are those…kids? T-th-they're d-dead?"

Rin shook from head to toe, the longer she looked around the room the more dead bodies she found. The stench of rotting bodies was overpowering and she could barely keep from vomiting as well. Shock kept both of them rooted in place, unable to flee from the gruesome scene before them. Fuzzy memories flooded Rin's mind. She grasped her head as the barrage of shattered memories overwhelmed her.

"Rin-chan?"

Rin couldn't hear him, she was panting heavily as pictures flashed before her eyes. She had been here before, everything felt so familiar suddenly. At one point she had been in one of those tanks before whatever happened to the other children took place. She could see the bubbles rising around here, the white noise of the liquid sloshing around often soothed her to sleep. A man with long black hair and piercing yellow eyes often came around; smiling oddly at her. One time she was taken out of the tank and put on a table; memories of intense pain followed. Somewhere in the back of her mind that voice shrieked with laughter.

"Rin-chan!"

"N-Naruto…," Rin whimpered, snapping out of it. Naruto had righted himself, no longer emptying the contents of his stomach all over the floor. The smell still assaulted his senses but he could tolerate it now.

"Are you ok? We should…see if anybody is still alive, you know?"

"Yeah," Rin agreed reluctantly. Honestly she wanted to run out of that place and never look back. This wasn't the home she had hoped it would be. Now if Konoha deemed her a danger to the village she would have nowhere to go. Especially since she also happened to inadvertently kidnap Naruto in the process.

Naruto steeled himself clenching his tiny fists tightly as he stepped over broken glass and looked over each of the rotting corpses. One glance for most of them was all it took to realize they were long gone; many of them must have been dead for a while as they were already decaying rapidly. Others weren't quite as old, muscle and fat underneath their skin still fairly plump. If it wasn't for the ashen color of their skin he might've thought they were sleeping.

"Naruto-kun! Th-there's one lit up down here, it looks like someone's inside," Rin cried out from across the room as she bolted down the aisle of containers. She had taken the other side to inspect albeit a bit slower than Naruto had been going. As she approached each one she had taken a moment to just stare at them; crying fat tears for all the little lives lost. Now that it looked like one was alive, she flew past the rest of them towards the green glowing tank. Sure enough inside was a boy older than both of them suspended in wires. His eyes were closed, perhaps he was sleeping.

Naruto hurried to join his friend in front of the tank, staring up at the floating boy. If it wasn't for the severity of the situation he might have snickered at the fact that the boy was completely naked; in fact all of the corpses were. The fear and sickness in his stomach kept him from finding any humor there. He frowned lightly, peering over the older boy. "Is he sleeping? How are we s'posed to get him out?"

"Maybe if we hit the glass with something it might break?"

"Good idea, I'll find something. Wait here!"

Naruto scrambled off, dodging large chucks of broken glass along the floor as well as any corpses that had made it out of their tanks and into the aisle. He came back a few minutes later with a small metal pipe. It wasn't the best option but considering it was already heavy enough as it was he wouldn't be able to bring over anything bigger. Motioning for Rin to move back, Naruto swung the pipe as hard as he could towards the tank. It barely chipped the glass but otherwise did no damage. Instead the boy inside woke with a start. His large eyes flew open in a panic until his gaze settled on the two children before him. A smile soon replaced his look of confusion and worry. The floating boy place his hand on the glass from the inside; Naruto and Rin both reached up to match their hands against his making the boy smile more.

"Can you get out? I don't think we can break this," Rin called to him, hoping the boy could hear her. He did because he promptly shook his head, banging on the glass from the inside; it didn't even budge. "Darn it!"

"Watch out Rin-chan, I'm gonna try again!"

Naruto swung again and again at the tank with the metal pipe. A small crack from where the glass had chipped began to grow although at a fairly slow pace. Naruto was getting tired and the thick glass still wasn't breaking. The boy covered his ears as the little blond smacked at the glass, watching helpless from inside. Rin sniffled, feeling helpless in the process as she watched Naruto refuse to give up.

* * *

I decided to make this a two part chapter; there's too much I want to cover to make this into one chapter. So…apologies but I leave you with a cliffhanger! *gets shot* Also I'm heavily sleep deprived so if I missed some things during my proofreading I apologize. Feel free to point them out. I really appreciate reviews of any sort; just to tell me you like it/hate it, to give me constructive criticism, and even to give me suggestions/ask questions. Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 8: Part Two

Rescue Me  
By Jet Set Yoyo

Summary: Nineteen year old Kakashi wasn't exactly a happy person, not after everything he had been through, but he could at least say he was content with where he was in life at the moment. When a foreign Shinobi infiltrates Konoha in the dead of night Kakashi finds himself in an interesting position and everything in his life turns upside down. Bit of an AU but not quite.

A/N: Wrote this one as quickly as possible. There's just so much happening here, I had to make sure it all made sense. Dx

* * *

"It's not budging, this is bad. How can we get him out," Rin whispered, watching Naruto still trying to crack the glass on the tank. Inside, the boy's expression turned pained seeing the two kids outside trying to break him free. He wasn't sure why he was in there in the first place but it was the only thing he could remember; it was home.

"We'll just keep hitting it until it does! We can't leave him there," Naruto growled through gritted teeth. His hands hurt but he wouldn't stop, not yet. All the dead bodies around made it even more apparent that no matter what they had to get him out.

Naruto smacked the tank one more time and the vibrations from the metal pipe sent him backwards. He lost his balance and fell over, the pipe clanging as it hit the ground. The little blond panted and wiped the sweat beading across his forehead. Inside the tank the boy pressed his hands and face to the glass, sending Naruto a worried glance.

"Maybe we have to find something else, this thing isn't working," Naruto grumbled, kicking the pipe. "Rin-chan, let's split up and look!"

"Okay," Rin agreed, pursing her lips as she turned to look about the darkened room. The only light source was the soft glow of the tank so some of the corners of the room were difficult to see anything in. She tip-toed over the glass laden floor and out of view. Naruto navigated around the glass, taking another area of the room.

The boy in the tank began to panic. They were leaving; they gave up on him! His heartbeat grew faster as he tried to bang on the glass. They didn't turn back and soon he couldn't see them anymore. _Don't leave me!_ He thought desperately. A sensation crashed over him that he couldn't place, moments later he heard the glass crack and shatter. The liquid inside the tank spilled outwards and the pressure helped break open the rest of the tank. Naruto and Rin both heard the sound, rushing back towards the tank as the light flickered weakly. Inside, the boy's body slumped to the floor, still entangled in the wires.

"Is he ok," Rin fretted, approaching the tank. The light flickered one last time, allowing them to see his crumpled body, before turning off for good. She couldn't see the glass on the floor anymore so she stepped as carefully as she could into the tank.

"Hey! Hey, get up," Naruto cried desperately, ignoring the glass altogether and rushing in. He shook the boy while Rin worked to detangle the wires.

A soft moan escaped the boys lips as he willed his eyes open. He could hear voices but his eyes couldn't adjust to how dark it was inside the room now. Reaching up, his hand brushed against someone's head and another hand rose to meet his.

"Hang in there," Naruto told him, squeezing the hand. "C'mon we're getting you out of here."

"W-who?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"

"My name is Rin. Are you ok? What's your name?"

"I… don't know," the boy replied sadly, unable to remember much of anything besides the endless days of floating in the tank. "I think I'm ok though. Nothing hurts."

"Oh, you're like me then? I got to pick my name, 'cause I can't remember anything either. Well, when I came here I remembered stuff. I think I used to be here too. I don't know when I left though 'cause I woke up in the forest and now I live with Naruto-kun," Rin chattered, pulling the last of the wires away from him. She took his other hand and both her and Naruto pulled him to his feet. "Careful, there's lots of glass."

"You came from here too Rin-san?" The boy pondered over her words. She didn't look familiar, then again he hadn't really memorized all of the people here. Only a few he could recall from memory before they too inevitably died.

"I think so. I, uhm, I kind of have a scary voice in my head. It told me to come here. Lots of stuff happened and then I remembered this place, I think. Then we found you. So I don't know anymore but we have to find home."

"Yeah, yeah. We're…kinda lost," Naruto added with a nervous chuckle. "Anyway let's get out of this creepy place."

The trio didn't have to think about that one. Though the boy was shaky on his feet, he followed the other two out as they carefully weaved their way around the debris on the floor and back out into the hall they had been in before. They made it a few meters before voices floated towards them; low, unfamiliar voices.

"Should we see who it is," Naruto whispered with uncertainty. Rin had grabbed his wrist along with the other boy's, squeezing them tightly.

"I dunno, what if they're ninja from another country," Rin returned, frowning. "Maybe we should hide? When they pass us we can see who they are. Then we can run if we have to."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"That room over there is open, should we go in there," the boy suggested, pointing a little further ahead. One of the doors was cracked open only a smidgen, Naruto and Rin hadn't even noticed it at all.

They hurried to the door, not at all quietly. From the sudden hush even though the voices approaching had been low in the first place, it was obvious someone had heard their footsteps. It went unnoticed by the trio, who scrambled quickly to find something to hide behind, settling for under a desk in the corner of the room. They crammed in and rolled the chair in front to help hide them from view.

"Think this will work," Naruto piped up, trying to see around the chair.

"Not if you don't be quiet. Stop moving Naruto-kun," Rin hissed, pulling him back. There was a sound of shuffling that approached. All three of the children froze, holding their breath. The sound stopped and then faded away, they could see the light from the hallway torches shine into the room briefly before everything went dark again.

Naruto gasped for air loudly and the chair pulled away from the desk, startling the trio. Before they could even attempt to move, the masked figure dropped where he stood. Rin and the boy they rescued let out a soft whimper. Hands reached under the desk, pulling Naruto out first.

"Let go," Naruto yelped, wriggling in his captor's grasp.

"Shh Naruto-kun."

The familiar voice served to calm the two of them immediately; the new boy not so much. Rin popped out of their hiding place, dragging the boy along to find Kakashi standing over an ANBU clad man while holding Naruto on his hip. It was hard to make out much else in the dark.

"You came..." Rin sobbed, her face melting into relief and happy tears.

"Now's not the time, let's go quickly. Stay close to me," Kakashi ordered, his voice serious and devoid of its usual playful tint. He regarded the other boy with faint curiosity considering the lack of clothing on the boy but decided to save his questions for later. Instead he hurried to the door, making use of a mirror to check around the blind corner. Determining the coast was clear enough, he pulled off his vest and draped it over the boy before giving Rin a light push. The teen nodded towards the corridor in the direction of the exit.

Rin went ahead on command, the new boy close on her heels as Kakashi and Naruto took up the rear. She wondered who else was there; judging by the mask it should have been Konoha's ANBU unit but if Kakashi had attacked the man for finding them then maybe they weren't. Either that or her loss of control on the voice in her head made the Hokage mad at her and he ordered them to kill her. She hoped not; she liked the old man. Once outside, rather than stop, Kakashi herded them along into the forest for a while until the little ones could go no further out of exhaustion.

"Ok, stop here for now," Kakashi commanded once more, setting Naruto down. In the moonlight he gave them all a once over. None of them looked physically injured. _Good._ He thought to himself. Now for the half naked child, years of training kept him on edge. "Who's this?"

"U-um-" The boy began shakily, blinking up at the teen.

"He doesn't have a name, like me," Rin cut him off.

"Yeah, we found him in a tank down there and I broke him out!"

"You did not, he broke himself out."

"Well I helped! I chipped the glass with the pipe so it would be easier."

"Oh," Kakashi offered, his tone questioning as he halted the bickering between the two. This was an odd situation. Judging by the snake motif adorning most of the area that underground area was likely one of Orochimaru's lab's. If so that meant one of his experiments lived. "What were you two doing there in the first place?"

"The scary voice sent me there… I woke up in the dark with Naruto-kun and he said we should go there because that was where I was from. We found a lot of dead kids… he was the only one still alive. It was so awful."

 _Possibly two surviving experiments then. Could Orochimaru have really created a Bijuu?_ Kakashi mulled over the implications of that possibility. They needed to keep moving soon, he wasn't keen on having to protect three small children in the dark. A few bushes rustled nearby sending the children into a panic before Pakkun, Bull, and six other dogs emerged.

"You found 'em boss," Pakkun pointed out, peering over the children as he raised an eye towards the new one. "They're still in the lab for now but I wouldn't bet for long."

"Right. Let's get moving," Kakashi sighed, it was hard to move along with them at a decent pace considering they moved barely above civilian pace. The new boy kept better pace at least, whatever training or alterations he might have had, so that was one thing made easier. "Bull, can you let one of them ride on your back? The faster we get back, the better."

Bull nodded eyeballing Rin, who was far less of a rowdy passenger than Naruto ever was. She scrambled up onto the large bulldog's back and linked her arms around his neck. _One down._ Kakashi scooped Naruto back up into his arms. Out of the three of them Naruto was the lightest somehow, almost smaller than most other kids his age. That left the new boy to run alongside him and he seemed to realize that quickly.

"I can keep up," he assured the teen, dashing off behind him as Kakashi took off. Bull and the other ninken followed suit. Pakkun and the others spread out to sense for danger while Bull traveled alongside his partner, Rin hanging on as the ninken picked up speed.

Kakashi could tell the boy was growing tired, likely unused to such exertion if he had lived a majority of his life in a tank, but they were so close to Konoha's gates. They had traveled for two hours already. Every time he glanced back to check on him, the boy would offer a smile and pick up his pace. The gates came into view, waiting for them was the Sandaime himself along with a handful of ANBU. Rin ducked her head guiltily, avoiding their gazes.

"Kakashi, you've found them. Good. Oh? Who's this one then?"

"Hokage-sama, perhaps this conversation is better suited for the privacy of your office. There is a lot to discuss."

"Very well, get this one some proper clothing; he looks quite cold. Then we can speak in my office."

"Yes sir."

Rin was glad when the ANBU and the Hokage departed, she was half expecting him to say something to her for her mistake. Hoping off of Bull's back, she gave the large dog a pat on the head. "Thanks Bull!"

Kakashi set Naruto down and led the trio back to the house. It would be safer to leave them all there while he procured something for the child to wear rather than parade them all around town in the dead of night. It might look a bit odd to anyone still mulling about that he was herding a bunch of small children, one of which nearly naked if it wasn't for the over-sized vest.

"Ne, ne, pick a name for us to call you," Naruto squawked, grinning over at the brown haired boy.

"Eh? Uhm..." The boy stammered, trying to think of something quickly.

"Tenzo! How about that," Rin piped up with a soft smile. Tenzo's almond eyes lit up and smile spread across his face. He nodded enthusiastically, the smile growing even wider.

"You three stay here, I'm going to find somewhere to get him some real clothes. Bull can you stay with them while I'm gone, just in case?"

The large bulldog gave a low bark and Kakashi needed no more to head right back out the door. The rest of the ninken bid their farewell's and disappeared. Naruto chattered animatedly, dragging Tenzo around the house to show him everything. He obliged shyly, letting the energetic blond pull him by the wrist. Rin followed, explaining everything Naruto forgot to mention before talking about Kakashi. Tenzo only smiled, taking in their words and the rest of the house. He had never seen a house before, not in the typical way. He recognized most things in a basic sense, as if he had seen or encountered them before but the actual memories weren't there. All he knew was the tank in that dark room but he remembered it didn't always used to be dark.

No more than a half hour later Kakashi returned, a full outfit draped over his arm. The silver-haired teen found the trio plopped in the sitting room scouring over the drawings of Naruto's makeshift training course. Tenzo was cocooned in a blanket.

"Here Tenzo, put these on," Kakashi interrupted Naruto's excited explanation as he tossed the clothing over to the ten-year-old. Tenzo scampered off to the bathroom to change. "I want you two with me. You'll have to tell the Hokage everything that happened. Thank you Bull, you can go home now."

"Am I in trouble," Rin wondered, dropping her gaze guiltily. She felt bad enough, Naruto had told her she had knocked Kakashi down before essentially kidnapping Naruto when she had turned. It was a wonder Naruto didn't hate her for it and she was thankful he didn't seem afraid of her when she came to. Kakashi looked her over with one lazy eye. Bull disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I don't know," he replied truthfully. The Hokage didn't seem angry, but the presence of that many ANBU to greet them meant he suspected trouble. Perhaps it had been just a precaution. "Either way the Hokage still needs to hear your side of the story. We'll see what happens from there."

"It's not Rin-chan's fault. Rin-chan's not a bad person!"

"Calm down Naruto-kun, we won't know what the Hokage says until we get there."

"But, but what if he wants her arrested and put in jail?" Rin stiffened, her anxiety increasing the more Naruto spoke. It wasn't beyond Kakashi's notice and he laid his hand on top of the blond's head.

"Naruto-kun, that's enough. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Kakashi attempted to reassure them. It didn't help Rin much, she was already playing with the hem of her tunic nervously. Naruto still seemed to be radiating with anger towards something that hadn't happened yet. The teen sighed and the atmosphere only shifted slightly when Tenzo returned fully clad in a pair of black pants and a loosely fitting steel blue T-shirt. "You're all set? Right, let's go then. The sooner we report to the Hokage the sooner we can all go back to bed."

The walk was mostly in silence. Naruto piped up more often than Tenzo and Rin hadn't uttered a word since they were back home. Tenzo only replied to questions thrown at him, settling to otherwise listen to the energetic blond chatter away. Kakashi peered down at Rin who was hanging back from the other two, walking beside the older teen instead.

"Have you heard the voice since?"

"No, just before we went to that place. It's been quiet but I'm still afraid it might come out again. I didn't even know until it was too late," she replied miserably. After a moments silence she looked up at him, her green eyes glossy with tears. "Naruto-kun said I hit you, then I kidnapped him and ran away. I-I'm s-sorry Kakashi-san. I didn't mean it, honest."

"I know you didn't. We'll figure this out."

Stepping into the Hokage's office, they stood at attention in front of the desk where the old man sat. The Sandaime folded his hands together on the desk in front of him, scrutinizing the three children each for only a moment. Behind them two ANBU kept guard, standing on either side of the door. Two more were guarding the door from the outside and it was likely that there were more scattered around the building and perimeter.

"Kakashi, tell me what happened first," the old man spoke up, breaking the heavy silence with his raspy voice.

"Well Hokage-sama, everything was relatively normal at first. I had written up the report for the week and just sent it off. She had been rather lethargic for a few days and I chalked it up to the bad weather and being cooped up indoors but today was far worse. Eventually after she went to take a nap, I found her having a nightmare and confronted her about what was going on. With a little coaxing she opened up about hearing the voice of her suspected Bijuu taunting her for the past few days," Kakashi began his end of the story. Rin dropped her gaze to the floor. "She seemed afraid to reveal that information for fear she would be taken away. I assured her I would find out more and the day went on mostly as usual. Once we went to sleep, I felt a huge chakra spike and rushed to her room. Naruto had felt it too and entered the room before I could stop him. She was in the midst of the transformation. As we suspected, it's no Bijuu we know of; it's a wolf."

"Interesting. Go on Kakashi," the Sandaime muttered quietly, not meaning to interrupt the teen's story. Rin listened intently, wondering just exactly what happened after she had black out.

"The beast was agitated, even more so by Naruto-kun calling for Rin who seemed to have lost control completely and blanked out. He swiped at the boy, hitting me instead when I pushed him out of the way. I was knocked out the door temporarily losing consciousness long enough for the beast and Naruto to disappear. Once I came to I summoned Pakkun to follow their trail which led me to the underground lab. I found them hiding under a desk about to be discovered by someone wearing an ANBU mask. I believe ROOT was there. Judging from the information so far and what Rin told me later I think the creature sealed inside her isn't a Bijuu at all. I could be wrong though," Kakashi finished, trying to gauge the Hokage's reaction. When the older man revealed nothing in his gaze, Kakashi shifted his attention to the three children.

"Hm. Rin-chan, what do you remember," the Hokage prompted her to speak up, softening his gaze towards the already nervous child.

"W-well, I kept hearing the monster's voice. He kept telling me if I didn't keep my promise that he would take over and hurt everybody. I didn't want him to but he wouldn't tell me what my promise was. He kept laughing and bothering me more and more because I couldn't remember anything. Today was really bad though; he wouldn't stop talking at all. I couldn't even concentrate on anything so I went to my room. I fell asleep and had a nightmare and Kakashi-san woke me up. We talked about the monster and later when I went to sleep for the night I remember hearing Naruto-kun and Kakashi-san calling my name. Then I woke up far away in the forest with Naruto-kun," Rin explained, trying her best not to stammer. She sniffled in between sentences, willing away the tears that threatened to fall. "The monster voice came back and told me which direction to go if I wanted to find out where I came from so we went that way and found an underground place. Inside we found Tenzo in a tank filled with some kind of water I think. The other tanks were broken and there were so many dead kids in them. It smelled really bad. We tried to get Tenzo out but the glass wouldn't break so we went to look for something else to try and he broke out on his own. There was some wood coming out of his back."

Hiruzen barely held back his surprised expression as Rin spoke her side of the story. This boy could use wood-style then? The lost art left by the Shodaime? It was an incredible find and lucky too considering the rest of the children had not survived. It was too bad this wasn't under better circumstances. He would have to send out a squad of ANBU to recover and identify those children.

"Then we left and heard voices so we hid. A person with an animal mask found us but Kakashi-san took care of him and led us away. Then we came straight back and I haven't heard the voice at all since then."

"Ah, so you have no recollection of the beast's control it seems. That is unfortunate but it will help provide us with much information. And you child, Tenzo was it? Tell me everything you remember then."

"Um, just when Rin-san and Naruto-san came or..."

"Everything, even before that."

"O-oh. Well, all I remember is that tank. The room didn't used to be so dark and a pale man used to come by sometimes. Sometimes there was even another person with glasses. They would take me out of the tank and put needles in me. Sometimes they hurt but not always. Then the room went dark, I'm not sure how long ago. It feels like forever. The other kids started to die one by one. Their tanks would break and the light in them would go out. I wanted to save them so badly but I couldn't do anything," Tenzo sniffled, pausing his story for a moment. He swallowed the lump in his throat and continued. "Then I was all by myself. I don't know for how long either and then Rin-san and Naruto-san came. He hit the tank over and over with a big pipe and then they went away. I thought they were leaving me all alone again so I got scared. I felt strange and the glass shattered. I fell on the floor and they came back to help me up and take me away. Then we hid from the voices and Kakashi-san came to help us get away."

"Hm...Pale man, you say? You cannot remember a name?"

"No sir, it was hard to hear people talk sometimes from inside the tank."

"I believe it to be Orochimaru, Hokage-sama. There was an obvious snake motif throughout the lab," Kakashi interrupted, earning him a deep frown from the elderly leader.

"And Naruto-kun? What happened?"

"Um, um, well… Rin-chan seemed really sad for a few days but today she was extra sad. I tried to cheer her up and play games but she wanted to take a nap. Then she had nightmares and Kakashi-san woke her up. They kicked me out and talked for a bit and then Rin-chan seemed better after that. Then when we were all sleeping I felt a whole lot of chakra and it woke me up. I went to go look and beat Kakashi-san to Rin-chan's room. She wasn't Rin-chan though, she looked like a wolf and she was super mad. I tried calling her but the wolf got mad at me and tried to hit me. Kakashi-san protected me and got hit instead," Naruto had to stop and take a big gulp of air he had been talking so quickly. Once he did he continued his story without missing a beat. "Then the wolf picked me up by my shirt in its mouth and ran away. We ran through the forest for a while and I tried to kick it but it said it would eat me if I didn't stop. Then it dropped me and turned back into Rin-chan. I tried to wake her up but she wouldn't so I waited. When she woke up, she said the voice told her which way to go. We found the secret base and sneaked inside. Then we found Tenzo, 'cept he wasn't Tenzo yet. The other kids were dead, it was really scary so I knew we had to save him. When the pipe didn't work to break the glass, we were looking for other things when Tenzo broke the glass on his own. I saw the wood stuff coming out of his back but then the lights went out. Then we hid from the voices that were coming under the desk and Kakashi-san rescued us."

"Ah, this is quite a lot of information to mull over," the Hokage started. Kakashi could, for once, see his age reflected in the tired gaze.

"Hokage-sama? A-am I in trouble," Rin interrupted the man who settled his gaze back on the scrawny silver-haired child.

"No Rin-chan, you're not in trouble. I doubt very much you intended to hurt Kakashi or Naruto-kun. However we need to find a way to keep this monster inside you locked up so he cannot come out and hurt anyone as he pleases."

Rin felt the weight of the world lift off her shoulders. For sure she thought that the Hokage would do as Naruto had guessed; put her in jail for hurting Kakashi and kidnapping Naruto. Kakashi let a small smile creep over his lips, not like anyone would see it regardless.

"Speaking of that Rin-chan, while you're not in trouble I would like to keep you with some guards for the night. Just until we can figure out what happened to you. You wouldn't want the same thing to happen all over again once you go home, would you?"

"No sir," Rin replied obediently. She didn't want to stay behind but not being able to hurt Kakashi or Naruto and Tenzo was much better than the alternative. She could do it.

"Good girl. Tora, please take Rin-chan to the room she'll be sleeping in. Tenzo, we'll have to find a place for you. I have an idea since you're special and can use the wood-style. Do you know how rare that is? For now this will be our little secret, understand? You'll go with Tora and Rin-chan. Tora will find a room for you as well."

"Yessir," Tenzo agreed, following the masked man known as Tora out of the room along with Rin. Kakashi knew better than to worry but he still felt on edge. Hiruzen seemed to sense his discomfort while Naruto showed it plain on his face.

"Don't fret Kakashi, I'll be having a sealing expert decipher how the beast had been sealed inside of her before hoping to add to said seal. That is all. I'm hoping to bring Tenzo into the ANBU unit for now; I would rather no one knew we have a wood-style specialist until he can fully defend himself. It is a much sought after ability that would endanger him for the rest of his life."

"Yes Hokage-sama."

"Go home and rest boys. It has been a very long night," Hiruzen dismissed them, looking equally tired himself.

* * *

As you guys can probably tell, I've adjusted Yamato's age and timeline a bit for this story. According to research and re-watching the episodes that give his backstory: he supposedly was a student that graduated from the academy at the age of six and was promoted to a Chuunin at the same age before Orochimaru kidnapped him for experiments. Inconsistently the anime says infants were kidnapped though that might just be translator error or inconsistencies with the storyline. Either way in the anime/manga he is ten when he's rescued and Kakashi is fourteen. Here he's still ten, but Kakashi is already nineteen. We're also going to ignore his previous ninja training via academy for now; he was there since he was an infant. Thank you for reading guys~ As you know I love constructive criticism but I don't mind any manner of reviews.


	10. Chapter 9

Rescue Me  
By Jet Set Yoyo

Summary: Nineteen year old Kakashi wasn't exactly a happy person, not after everything he had been through, but he could at least say he was content with where he was in life at the moment. When a foreign Shinobi infiltrates Konoha in the dead of night Kakashi finds himself in an interesting position and everything in his life turns upside down. Bit of an AU but not quite.

A/N: Over 2600 views~ Woo! Thank you so much everyone! Apologies for the prolonged wait on this chapter; the Metal Gear Survive beta came out for just the weekend so my time was spent binge playing the crap out of it. Now that the beta period is over I can resume this with my full attention.

* * *

Tora led Rin and Tenzo down some underground hallways below the Hokage Tower. They connected all of the most important places around Konoha for ANBU use; keeping their activities away from the general population as much as possible. Fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling illuminated the otherwise darkened corridors but also blinding both of their sensitive eyes. Somehow, these tunnels weren't as creepy and ominous as the ones they were previously in. They were both nervous but the ten-year-old was more so; he wasn't familiar with these people at all.

"U-um… Tora-san," Rin squeaked, unsure whether or not she was supposed to stay quiet or not. All of the ANBU seemed so serious hidden behind their masks. When the ANBU-masked man turned his head towards her she figured he would've said something if not. "What's going to happen to Tenzo?"

"Same thing that happened to you on your first night," the man replied after a moment as if mulling over whether he was authorized to tell the child. It wouldn't hurt he decided. It might even serve to stop the boy from jumping right out of his skin. The little silver-haired girl sent him a thoughtful look as they traveled, saying nothing else.

"So then, if Rin-san already was here why is she here again? How come she doesn't get to go home with Kakashi-san and Naruto-san," it was Tenzo's turn to question the man. His voice was so quiet and careful that if Tora hadn't trained his ears to pick up faint sounds he might not have even heard the boy.

"That's classified," came the quick reply. That kind of information he couldn't give up, especially not to two foreigners; children or not. Tenzo paled, ducking his head to avert his gaze from the man.

Tenzo fell quiet, glancing at Rin who only flashed him a soft smile in return. After a while they arrived at a metal door, Tora rapped on it in an intricate pattern and the door slid open rather quickly. Rin recognized the man that had been there on her first night but couldn't quite remember his name. He had been nice to her, even if the scarred man afterwards hadn't been.

"This is your stop kid. Yamanaka-san, I'll leave him with you."

"Thank you Tora-san. Hello Rin-chan, doing well?"

"Yes sir," she chirped back as Tenzo tentatively entered the bright room beyond the door. He looked back and Rin felt bad. "Be nice to Tenzo-kun, he's scared!"

"R-Rin-san!"

Rin grinned cheekily, happy with the slightly flustered look on Tenzo's face. He didn't seem as nervous now, the sudden embarrassment taking the forefront of his emotions. Tora let out a sigh and herded the lanky child along, letting the metal door close between them and Tenzo. At least he could be thankful the girl wasn't like little Naruto; a few occasions had him bringing the rambunctious trouble-maker to the Hokage and that one was quite the chatterbox. Rin was, thankfully, mostly quiet. When she wasn't, at least she wasn't screeching loudly either. It really did save him from starting another massive migraine.

"So where am I going? Are they going to fix me?"

"Special division of medical; since Yamanaka-san was unsuccessful in working his way into your mind last time."

"Oh," Rin faltered, suddenly feeling worried. Would that mean she had to stay here until they did fix it? Would she not be allowed to see Naruto-kun or Kakashi-san? Biting her lip, she almost asked Tora but thought better of it. He was just taking her there. She decided to ask the people at this special medical division instead.

They passed a few more mysterious metal doors on the way. Nothing notable indicated where they were passing or what might have been behind any of them; she was curious. Finally they stopped, Tora-san knocking a rhythmic code to whoever was behind this particular door. It slid open to reveal another brightly lit room. It was to be expected but she didn't recognize the woman on the other side of the door. She had mint green hair pulled up into a plain ponytail and distinct chocolate brown eyes; definitely someone that would be remembered.

"Ah, Rin-chan right? Come on then, we've got work to do," the woman trilled, leading her in by her shoulders into what looked like a waiting room of some sort. It was littered with chairs and end tables but otherwise devoid of much else. "Thank you Tora-san."

"So you're going to fix me, right," Rin jumped in, figuring she would either get an answer or not. She glanced over at Tora in the doorway until the door slid shut between them and then shifted to look the woman in the eyes.

"Ah, well, we have to figure out what's wrong so to speak. Then we can work on doing something about what's inside you," the woman explained, frowning thoughtfully. "Oh! I'm Higuru Tomone. Rin-chan, I know you're probably anxious to get back home but this might take a while. However you're not a prisoner; the Hokage was very specific about that. We'll have someone go with you if you want to visit anywhere but you'll be sleeping here for now. Speaking of which, you must have had such a long day. Let's get you to bed, yeah?"

Rin blinked, soaking in the words Tomone was telling her. She felt relief wash over her combined with a giddy sort of happiness. It must have shown quite clearly across her face because Tomone laughed and pulled her along by her hand into another hallway then finally towards another room. It was small, yet cozy. There was a bed in one corner and a small nightstand beside it, atop it was a lamp and a clock. A bookshelf and a desk also occupied the room but nothing more; it was fairly plain but not at all disconcerting to the young girl.

"Here sweetie," the woman practically bubbled, handing her a folded set of light green pajamas complete with fresh undergarments. She wasn't very ninja-like, Rin noted, liking the lack of seriousness. "There's a bathroom right over there so you can change and get washed up if you like. There's a little buzzer by the door; right there, see? Looks like a doorbell. If you need me at all you can ring it. Before you get into bed, I'm going to attach these little chakra monitors to the sides of your head. You won't feel a thing, promise. They'll let us know if anything strange starts happening so we can come help you, ok?"

Rin was nearly reeling from all the information and the kindness Tomone gave her without a second thought. It wasn't as if anyone else was explicitly mean but she noticed her kinship with Naruto made many of the villagers distant. Having someone go out of their way to explain everything and act so motherly towards her welled up a warm fuzzy feeling in her chest. Kakashi was nice, still distant, but nice all the same. Tomone was something entirely different.

"Rin-chan? Are you ok?"

Rin hadn't realized she was standing there awkwardly in the middle of the room, staring straight at the mint-haired woman. Snapping back to attention, the girl flashed her new caretaker a warm smile, "No Tomone-san, I'm just happy. I'll go take a shower and change now. Thank you!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Kakashi and Naruto trekked back towards the Hatake compound. Naruto didn't quite make it, nearly falling asleep on his feet. The silver-haired teen ended up carrying him more than half of the way. He couldn't blame the boy; the night had been rough and it _was_ already the wee hours of the morning. In fact, the sun would start peeking over the horizon soon enough. At least he could sleep in knowing Naruto would likely as well. Slipping off his sandals in the entrance, he used his free hand to gingerly remove the little blond's as well before setting them quietly on the floor. It wasn't likely Naruto would wake at this point no matter what kind of noise he made but he figured it was best not to push his luck. Kakashi drifted sleepily down the hall, depositing the small boy into his bed and then heading towards his own. He hadn't even changed into pajamas, just let himself drop onto the bed and sink under the covers before he was asleep much like the snoring child in the other room.

* * *

Rin emerged from the shower smelling of fruity soap instead of sweat and dirt, clad in the pajamas she had been giving. Her short silver hair stood more wildly on end than it normally did despite the moisture that should have weighed it down. Tomone chuckled, motioning for the girl to come over and sit beside her on the bed.

"I'll brush your hair for you sweetie, then we can attach the chakra monitors and I'll let you sleep," Tomone offered sweetly, brush already in hand. Rin didn't have to be told twice, though tired she scampered over to the bed and wriggled her way up beside the woman. No one had ever brushed her hair for her, not that she could remember. In fact, she never brushed her own hair either if her always wild hair was any evidence. Once her locks were mostly tamed, some blatantly refused to lie flat despite Tomone's gentle coaxing, the woman grabbed a pair of small patches off of the nightstand. "These will just stick to the side of your head. They'll monitor your chakra and alert us if anything strange happens such as a spike or sudden drop. Nothing to worry about at all, ok?"

The sleepy child nodded, eyes already beginning to droop. She hadn't had a decent rest at all that night and the few previous nights had been strained. Tomone wasted no time in peeling off the paper backing to reveal a sticky underside to the contraptions. She brushed some of Rin's hair away and placed one on each temple, running her finger across the edges to ensure they were properly affixed.

"Sleep now sweetie, I'll be here when you wake up," she whispered, guiding the child's head back onto the pillow as she lifted the comforter over Rin's small frame. The command was unneeded; Rin was already fast asleep and Tomone left briskly to get in some sleep of her own.

Rin didn't wake until just after noon time. When she did she panicked briefly, having forgotten where she was. The previous night was a blur; so much had happened and it baffled the small child. No longer sleep deprived and anxious, she took the chance to mull over yesterday's events trying hard to decipher what was memory and what was a dream. Guilt wracked her once more when she remembered that she had hurt Kakashi but it was overshadowed by the fact that she supposedly came from that underground facility. At least she did if the voice in her head was telling the truth. There was no way of knowing for sure and she thought it odd the beast hadn't bothered her yet. Perhaps she had fulfilled the promise by returning to the facility? She certainly wasn't going to initiate conversation and ask the voice herself. The silence in her head was more than welcome. Scooting off the bed, Rin went to the bathroom and by the time she emerged Tomone was already in the room.

"Morning sweetie, I had your clothes washed so you can wear them today. Are you hungry? It's more lunchtime than breakfast but I can get you whatever you'd like to eat before we start running some test and getting more information," Tomone greeted, patting the light blue tunic, black shorts, and undergarments Rin had been wearing the previous day that were set upon the bed. Tomone had made the bed as well while Rin was in the bathroom.

"Uhm, yes please. Can I just have some miso soup and rice?"

"Right away, I'll be back in a second then we'll head off and we can meet the rest of the team. They're excited to see you," Tomone chirped, sending the girl a wink before disappearing from the room again. The woman reappeared no more than ten minutes later, hot steaming soup and rice in hand. "See, didn't take long right? Go ahead eat up. We've got a big day ahead of us."

Rin wolfed down the food like she hadn't eaten in days but despite Tomone's immediate inquiry for seconds she declined, claiming to be full with a sweet smile. Tomone gave an exasperated huff but let the child off the hook, instead motioning for the girl to follow her. The mint-haired woman led the way down the hall, going nearly to the end and opened a walnut wooden door. Inside were a small handful of people who all turned to stare at the newcomer.

"Is this Rin-chan," one of the older men sitting at a desk in the corner piped up. He had short chestnut hair and dark eyes. By the look of the slight wrinkles on his face and the speckles of grey hairs mixed in, Rin could only guess he was in his forties or fifties.

"Oh she's a cutie," squealed a younger woman who bounced away from the machine she was near; her pony-tailed ash brown hair swaying into her face when she halted in front of them. "Hello Rin-chan, ready for some tests? I just finished calibrating our scanner, so we can start there. Higuru-senpai, shall we start?"

Tomone snuck a glance towards Rin who looked rather calm before nodding at the woman, "Go ahead Nanami-san."

That was all it took for the woman called Nanami to snag Rin gently by the wrist and lead her towards the large contraption. Tomone was glad in that moment Rin was so calm and compliant; Nanami could be rather brash at times. Rin settled herself into the tube-like machine, peering around her at the whirring parts and blinking lights with awe. She was so distracted she missed the beginning of Nanami's instruction.

"-then you'll go inside for a little while and it will take a scan of your whole body. Ready?"

Rin blinked, feeling sheepish that she hadn't been paying attention. Finally she nodded and Nanami told her to lay back before starting up the machine. If Rin had thought the whirring was loud now, as she slid on the table into the bowels of the machine the whirring only got louder. Her hearing was above average already and she winced uncomfortably at the noise assaulting her ears. Since she hadn't been listening, she had no idea how long she was going to be in there but the sudden feeling of panic started to creep it's way into her head.

* * *

Despite the late hour he had gone to bed, Kakashi still managed to wake around mid-morning. Loud snoring from the other room told him right away that Naruto was still sound asleep. With a stretch the teen peered around the room, his eyes lingering just a little too long on that spot on the floor before he forcefully directed them to the window. _Not now,_ he gritted his teeth willing away the flash of his younger self standing over his father's body behind his eyes. He focused harder on the window. The weather was better today; Naruto would be happy. Then again Rin wasn't there to enjoy it with him so the boy could very well end up sulking indoors anyway. He rose from his bed, peeling away the shuriken-patterned blanket and headed to the bathroom in desperate need of a shower. He hadn't bothered after last night and he felt grimy from the dried sweat.

Kakashi reached through the shower curtain for a towel before stepping out while simultaneously drying his hair only to meet with a half asleep Naruto just finishing up using the toilet. He cocked an eyebrow at the child who hadn't even bothered to look over before going to wash his hands, completely unperturbed by the invasion of privacy.

"Ne...Kakashi-san?" Naruto piped up, although his voice wasn't as loud and chipper as usual. Kakashi was already in the midst of getting dressed, his mask already quickly slipped over his face, and hummed his response. Naruto finished washing his hands and looked over at the teen. "Is Rin-chan coming back to us? What if they keep her?"

"They're just going to find out what's inside her Naruto," Kakashi assured the boy, and amused smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Yeah but… _what if they keep her,_ " Naruto insisted, furrowing his brow and pouting as he practically barricaded the doorway. With all the seriousness a five-year-old could muster, he still looked rather silly. Kakashi wondered briefly if he seemed as ridiculous when he was that young; more mature definitely, but it was difficult to take a pocket sized person seriously.

"They're not going to keep her Naruto, you know the Hokage wouldn't do that." Kakashi slipped past the young boy and exited the bathroom, ruffling the boy's hair affectionately as he left.

"Mm… fine. But I'm gonna rescue her if they do," Naruto concluded determinedly, shadowing the teen into the kitchen. "Ne, can we have ramen?"

"Not for breakfast."

"But it's already eleven o' clock!"

"No."

* * *

Minutes felt like hours to Rin as she laid in the machine. The noise was grating on her already frayed nerves; the confined space was making her more and more anxious by the second. Something about this felt familiar but like all of her other memories, sans the ones that flashed briefly before her eyes in the underground laboratory, she couldn't place what exactly was so familiar about it. Had she been in a machine like this before? Was she just remembering a small confined space? Was it just the loud noise making her brain ache? She wiggled around slightly, unable to keep still as her panic grew overbearingly larger the longer she waited.

" **Idiots, what kind of foolish contraption is this?** "

Rin nearly jumped through the top of the machine from the surprise and that sent her panic bubbling over the edge. She began to hyperventilate, the sound of her own breathing drowning out that confounded whirring noise. Outside Tomone and Nanami exchanged worried glances while the other handful of technicians monitored the machine, looking over occasionally.

"Should we stop it," Nanami wondered out loud, biting her lower lip. The scan was almost done but if Rin couldn't get a hold of herself before then it wouldn't be responsible of them at all.

Tomone sent her an incredulous glare, already moving to pull the young girl out. As soon as she reached for the little girl, Rin let out a petrified screech and slapped her away. Her breathing only became more ragged and heavy. The mint-haired woman pulled back quickly, her head still bowed to get a look inside the long tube of the machine. Rin clutched at her chest, eyes squeezed shut in a mixture of pain and terror.

"Rin-chan! Rin-chan it's just me, Tomone-san! Rin-chan, what happened? Calm down," she half shouted over the noisy contraption to the little girl inside who was already curling in on herself. "Rin-chan! Breathe slowly, it's alright. We're going to take you out now."

"But the scan was almost done," Nanami sighed.

"Not now Nanami-san!"

"Let me out," Rin whispered, only half hearing Tomone's words. She choked on her voice, tearing running down her cheeks now before she started to cry out, "Let me out! Let me out! I'll be good, I promise! Let me out!"

The other technicians had already begun powering down the machine, the whirring softened to the low hum it had been before and the table Rin had been laying on slid along the track back out of the tube. As soon as she was close enough, Tomone gathered the shaking girl up in her arms and held her close.

"Shh, you're ok. You're safe Rin-chan. You're safe," she spoke soothingly, running her hand gently through the child's hair. "It's alright Rin-chan, just breathe."

Minutes ticked by as Rin continued to wheeze and gasp, breathing desperate ragged breaths from her mouth as she strangled on the air that was filling her lungs. Her eyes stung from the tears, even though she still kept them squeezed tightly shut. Tomone's voice was far away and muffled by the sound of her own beating heart in her ears. Eventually her lungs began to function and her breathing slowed, returning to normal along with her heartbeat. The young girl sniffled, cracking open her eyes to find the entire team huddled around them while she was cradled in the woman's arms.

"Better now, Rin-chan? You gave us a scare sweetie," Tomone asked softly, still running her hand through the wild and now sweaty silver hair of the small child. Rin nodded weakly, still sniffling. "What happened in there?"

"I-I don't know. I just felt scared. I thought I remembered something but I can't remember what I was remembering," Rin replied in confusion at the absurdity of her statement but Tomone and the rest of them didn't seem bothered at all. She felt fresh tears at the notion of them not being angry with her. "Did I mess up the scanning thingy?"

"Good news, Rin-chan," piped up the older male technician with a gentle smile. "It wasn't a complete scan but we've gotten enough information out of what we did complete that you won't have to go back in. You did great."

"Let's take a break Rin-chan," Tomone offered, allowing the girl to get up out of her lap and stand on her own two feet. "The other tests we need to do aren't anything like that but I'm sure you need some time before we start the others. Would you like to go for a walk with me, or you can go back to your room if you like?"

"I want to take a walk please."

* * *

"Ne, Kakashi-san… I'm bored. Can we go visit Rin-chan," Naruto whined, sprawled on his stomach on the floor in the sitting room. Kakashi looked over the rim of his book at the boy and his assortment of drawings spread out in front of him.

"Probably not. Why don't you go outside and find something to do? It's nice today, why stay inside?"

"It's not the same without Rin-chan anymore. Besides no one else will play with me."

Kakashi shrugged, returning to his book. Entertaining children was still a skill beyond his comprehension; he never remembered having a difficult time keeping himself occupied as a child. Then again he had been following his father's shadow of a legacy since before he could remember; everyone expected the son of the great White Fang of Konoha to become an exceptional shinobi. It didn't help that he had a natural talent for it either. Once his father passed, he no longer played with the other children his age instead burying himself in his training and soon after his missions so he could forget everything else existed. Naruto huffed in frustration, getting up off the floor and trudging into his bedroom to finally change out of his pajamas.

"Pick up your stuff before you go," Kakashi called after him, never taking his eyes off the page.

Naruto emerged after a few minutes and a couple of loud thumps that could only mean he fell over while putting on his clothes. He swiped the papers and colored pencils off the floor and brought them to his room.

"I'm gonna go out."

"Ah, have fun," Kakashi drawled, waving lazily from behind his book.

* * *

Tomone and Rin traveled leisurely down the road, with no destination apparent, in relative silence at first. The small girl was still trying to gather her bearings after her episode. The older woman, however, was feeling the strain of silence but fought not to fill it with useless chatter; not yet at least. When Rin didn't speak up after a while, she let out a sigh.

"Rin-chan, whenever you remember something you should tell us. No matter how insignificant you think it might be, it could help us. Especially if what you're remembering scares you," Tomone told her quietly, pondering over the little girl who seemed so far away at the moment. "Is the voice talking to you again?"

The silver-haired girl only shook her head. She felt tired, almost as tired as before she got such a good night's rest last night. Opening her mouth to speak, she snapped it back shut again and frowned. Tomone watched her patiently, hoping not to have to urge her to speak. Finally Rin said quietly, "It talked to me in the machine, just once. But that's not why that happened. It felt like I had been in a place like that before, not the machine, just a tiny space. I think it was where I was put when I was bad. I knew I wasn't going to be hurt but I just felt so scared I was going to have to stay in there forever that I couldn't help it."

Tomone's face fell, feeling sympathy for the girl. Whatever she had gone through, even if she couldn't fully remember it, must have been a nightmare. She almost hoped the poor thing would forget it completely and never remember. Unfortunately, they needed to know where she came from and how she ended up with a being inside of her; Bijuu or not. It wasn't exactly optional at this point, she had heard through the grapevine that some of the council members pushing for her incarceration after the previous night's fiasco.

"I'm so sorry Rin-chan. I'll do my best to help you, I promise. So you can go back to Kakashi-san and Naruto-kun as soon as possible and you won't have to worry about that voice ever again. Just remember to talk to me, anything and everything. I promise that I won't ever get mad at you. Or, if there's someone else you would rather talk to about something then let me know. I'll get them for you," Tomone flash a genuine, warm smile down at the girl as they walked through a crowd of people.

Rin didn't smile back but she felt a lot less tense. The air around her lifted somewhat and the girl was no longer dragging her feet as she walked. Up ahead a small mop of blond weaved through the sea of people. The little blue-eyed boy stopped short as he caught sight of Rin walking ahead of him. She hadn't noticed him, and she looked kind of sad. He took off sprinting, knocking into a few people as he went who promptly turned to shout obscenities back at him.

"Rin-chaaaan!"

Rin's head snapped up, her green-eyes locked with Naruto's and her lips tugged into a small smile. She ran, meeting the boy in the midst of the crowd as she left Tomone behind. "Naruto-kun! What are you doing here?"

"I got bored, Kakashi-san is being dumb and reading again. So I was going to come find you but I had no idea where to start. I just kind of was walking. How come you're here? Aren't you s'posed to be getting fixed or something? Did they fix that monster voice?"

Rin shook her head sadly, though the smile didn't waver. Tomone found her way through the crowd and approached the pair. She scrutinized the little boy, having never met the Jinchuuriki before but had heard plenty of nasty things spread around by most of the others. Unlike most, she hadn't lost a friend or loved one to the Kyuubi attack. In front of her was a small, happy child with the unfortunate fate of housing a deadly monster. Naruto caught her staring at him and scrunched up his nose.

"Rin-chan, who's that?"

"I'm Higuru Tomone but Rin-chan just calls me Tomone-san. It's good to meet you Naruto-kun, would you like to join us on our walk? Rin-chan needed a break."

Naruto blinked, staring up at the woman. She was smiling at him, not a fake one either. He couldn't find any hatred behind her eyes, not like the rest of the villagers. It threw him off guard but a tiny piece of him felt a surge of happiness. Finally he grinned up at her.

"Okay!"

"Um, Tomone-san? What did the scan thingy find out? Can you fix me?"

"We still have some more tests to do to find that out. The CRI machine uses chakra to make a map of the inside of your body. It's similar but far less powerful than the Byakugan or the Sharingan and it's not mobile either. It also would reveal any hidden seals on your body. If we could inspect the seal used to put the being inside of you we could determine whether or not we can undo it safely," the woman explained. Rin listened intently, hoping for more than just that while Naruto squinted in confusion. All that information went right over the young blond's head. "Either way the rest of the team is looking over the scan to see what they can find out. I'm sure they'll tell us when we head back."

"Ne, ne Onee-san? When can Rin-chan come home?"

"Not until we've figured out what we can do for her, Naruto-kun. We wouldn't want you or Kakashi-san, or anyone else to get hurt in the meantime."

"What if," Rin started, pausing a moment before her voice went quieter. "What if you can't fix me?"

"We'll figure that out if we come to it. There's no need to worry Rin-chan, you'll be alright. I promise."

The trio kept walking, Rin was in higher spirits now with Naruto along, until it was time to head back. They had been out for almost two hours and if they wanted to finish more tests before the day ended they would need to hurry back. Naruto pouted, insisting he come along to watch. At first Tomone was tempted to let him but thought better of it, apologizing to the both of them. Rin had looked so hopeful too. She would have to take it up with the Hokage, whether or not he could be allowed in the future. At the building, which was otherwise inconspicuous from the outside, they parted ways with Naruto and headed back inside.

"Alright Rin-chan, let's ease back into this slowly. We'll start with a basic check-up, just like you would get at the doctor's," Tomone explained, sliding open the door to the team's room. The rest of them seemed to be waiting, keeping busy with menial tasks in the meantime. The team perked up, noting Rin's better condition.

"Right-O, that means I'm up then," spoke a woman in her late twenties. Her hair was short and her face rather pointed. Off the bat Rin almost thought she was a young man until hearing her voice. She looked rather serious as well. "Come on then Rin-chan, we've got an exam to complete. Nothing crazy, don't worry. It'll be over in a flash. Let's go to a more private room."

* * *

I think I'm starting to really like Miss Tomone. I thought her up on the fly since I couldn't find a canon character to play the role needed and after writing this chapter she's already grown on me. Aside from interactions with Rin, she won't play much of an important role though. Not to worry. I based the machine Rin was in on an MRI machine. Haha Kakashi dodged a bullet, if Naruto had been paying attention he might've seen Kakashi's face~ Ever notice how little kids just _don't care_ when the bathroom is occupied? I speak from experience. Thank you all so much for reading!


	11. Chapter 10

Rescue Me  
By Jet Set Yoyo

Summary: Nineteen year old Kakashi wasn't exactly a happy person, not after everything he had been through, but he could at least say he was content with where he was in life at the moment. When a foreign Shinobi infiltrates Konoha in the dead of night Kakashi finds himself in an interesting position and everything in his life turns upside down. Bit of an AU but not quite.

A/N: Over 3,000 views! You guys are the best. Short chapter here. I didn't want to push it by bulking it up with useless stuff for no real reason.

* * *

The woman led Rin back to the room she had slept in before promptly beginning what she explained to be a standard examination of health. Rin wouldn't know; she had never been to a doctor's check-up before. At least not that she remembered. It was over in less than ten minutes and entirely painless, so there was that much she could be thankful for.

"We're done, we can head back to the others now," the woman stated simply, already halfway out the door as Rin redressed herself in a hurry and scampered after her.

"So Rin-chan, it looks like from that scan you have a pretty standard and uncomplicated seal on you; hidden on your lower back. It's a wonder it's even held this long and it's no surprise that it's weakened this much. Though we'll have to figure out whether it's possible to remove the seal completely and release what's inside of you safely. That's going to take a bit longer," Tomone told Rin as she entered the room. She didn't waste any time continuing, "Fuuko-san says you're completely healthy and have hit all the growth milestones for your age so you're A-OK there."

"Your chakra reserves are through the roof, though most of it seems to be untapped," the older man with the kind smile added in. In response to the confused look on the young girl's face he explained, "You have a lot of chakra to work with, but you don't seem to be using much of it. Only a small fraction of it in fact. This is likely because you are still untrained as a ninja and haven't figured out how to tap into such reserves. Nor is it necessary for general day to day tasks."

"It's remarkable, isn't it? I've never seen anything like this," Nanami chipped in, scouring over the report they were going over. Rin shimmied close to take a peek but couldn't understand most of what was on the page. She left it up to them to explain. "She could be a top-notch shinobi if she tapped into this power."

"That's not the goal here Nanami-san. We're supposed to help Rin-chan, not make her a war machine," Tomone berated the brash woman, adding in a displeased stare. Nanami held her hands up in front of her defensively. The mint-haired woman only shook her head at her coworker before turning her attention back to Rin. Gone was the gentle smile, in its place was a serious look Rin found mildly disconcerting. "This next part might be a bit difficult Rin-chan but we'll be here to help you through it. We're going to need you to actively try to talk to this voice inside you. Try to find out as much about it as possible. We need to figure out which Bijuu is inside you, or what it is if it's not a Bijuu. Ask it what it looks like, or where it's from, how many tails it has. Ask what its name is, if it has one. Do you understand Rin-chan?"

Rin gulped nervously; talking to the scary voice inside her wasn't pleasant and she would rather not do so. At least right now she could answer one of those questions but having to pry the rest of them out of the cruel voice would be a difficult task she wasn't sure could even be completed. For days as it berated and taunted her she could get nothing concrete out of it.

"Um, Naruto-kun said it looks like a wolf," she piped up, fiddling with the hem of her tunic. Tomone and the others exchanged looks. There wasn't a wolf Bijuu, unless the five-year-old was mistaken in his observation.

"Hm, perhaps he was speaking of the Nibi," the older man with the kind smile offered thoughtfully.

"But isn't that a cat of some sort," Nanami retorted, scratching her cheek.

"Could be easily mistaken, perhaps in the heat of the moment and the shock obscured the details," came another voice. Rin was getting confused; if they didn't know what it was how could she? She _really_ didn't want to talk to the voice anymore.

"Is there anything else you can tell us, Rin-chan," Tomone asked, turning back to the young girl.

"It calls me whelp and it's mean. All it does is yell at me for forgetting," Rin huffed, annoyed by the thought of it. "I don't even know what a whelp is but I know it must be a bad name because it's _always_ mean to me."

This earned a small chuckle from the group of medic-nin and technicians, to which Rin was not amused. The group continued to chatter, throwing ideas back and forth while Rin listened as carefully as possible. Most of it she couldn't understand, not all the technical words they kept using at least. All she knew was she had to talk to the stupid monster again and she was not happy.

* * *

Naruto dragged his feet as he walked dejectedly back towards the Hatake compound. He really hoped he could've gone back to the place Rin was at to see what they were doing. That lady wouldn't let him though and he was frustrated. She did make the mistake of letting him walk with them all the way there. Maybe he could sneak in and find her, he thought to himself. The blond boy stopped walking, frowning as he was deep in thought.

Whirling around on his heel, Naruto took off running back down the road. He knew if he was going to sneak in he would have to see if they had any guards. It didn't seem like it but he wasn't paying attention the first time. This time he decided to scope it out. If he couldn't walk through the front door unnoticed, maybe he could find an open window somewhere. The building was rather nondescript, blending in well with the rest of them around. He decided there were top, super secret things going on in there. Maybe Rin was in trouble and he did need to save her. She probably couldn't tell him because that lady was there, even if she was nice to him.

It didn't look like any guards were posted out front, nor anywhere on the rooftop or balconies. Naruto frowned, wondering if any ANBU were hidden around; Tora had brought Rin there after all. If this didn't work he would storm that old Gramp's office and demand he let her go. With all of his courage mustered, Naruto marched through the front door. Inside was as inconspicuous as the outside. A relatively empty foyer met his eyes and behind the desk on the far end was a woman seated but she seemed to be busy with something. He ducked behind a potted plant closest to him in hopes that she hadn't noticed his entrance; he wasn't exactly being quiet. Now he just had to figure out where Rin was being held captive.

The mischievous five-year-old peeked through the plant, scouring the room for a staircase or a doorway to another area; he found it right on the left side of that desk where the woman was. Finally he saw his opportunity when the woman bent over, likely to retrieve something, and skittered across the foyer towards the door. Now if he could get it open without her noticing. Hopefully it wasn't locked; he hadn't thought of that before he made his dash. Reaching the large set of double doors, he yanked the handle, and to his surprise, it opened without much objection. He was through! And that silly lady at the desk never even saw him. Naruto grinned to himself, resisting the urge to cackle with glee. He still had to be quiet.

There was a hallway lined with various doors; most had nameplates beside them designating them as restrooms or storage closets, others seemed to be offices judging by just the names of random people imprinted in them. The boy paled, wondering if he would have to scour all of these rooms to find her but the daunting task didn't deter him. Peeking warily into the first room he came across he found it empty and moved on, repeating the process with each one he came to. Just as he reached the end of the hall and it split into two directions on either side, a hand dropped lightly on his shoulder causing the child to yelp in surprise and fall onto his bottom as he attempted to turn around too quickly.

"Didn't I tell you, you wouldn't be able to visit her? What are you doing Naruto?"

Naruto looked up from his spot on the floor, Kakashi loomed over him looking a combination of amused and annoyed. The boy chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head. Kakashi on the other hand did not seem nonchalant. The teen crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for the boy to explain himself. He already knew, Naruto had little to no patience for anything, but he waited regardless.

"I, uh, I just wanted to make sure, you know? That… she was ok," Naruto trailed off as his sentence reduced itself to a slur of mumbles. He refused to look back up at the man, not willing to see the disappointment.

"Naruto," Kakashi began, willing the boy to look back up. When he didn't, the silver-haired teen crouched down in front of him. Eventually Naruto couldn't resist looking. "I promise you she's just fine."

Naruto looked as if he was considering his words but still unsure. Kakashi couldn't figure out for the life of him what made the boy so distrustful of his fellow Konoha-nin's. He knew the boy was ignored, avoided at all costs by most, and a select few had taken it a step further but who could have betrayed the child so badly that his instinct told him that they would harm a child for no reason? Could the abuse have been worse than he thought? Kakashi was no psychologist. He couldn't begin to analyze Naruto's thinking without knowing more about the boy in general; something he had done his best to avoid between both children since they had ended up in his care.

"Trust me, ok?"

"If you say so Kakashi-san," Naruto mumbled, finally righting himself back on his feet. "How did you know I was here anyway and how come you knew where Rin-chan was?"

"Maa, I know things. I wouldn't be a good ninja without knowing things, right?"

"That doesn't even answer the question!"

Kakashi chuckled, walking back towards the entrance knowing the boy would follow in an attempt to squeeze information from the ANBU-ranked teen. Sure enough Naruto scampered after him, squawking question after question loudly. The woman at the desk eyeballed them curiously as they passed, and Kakashi bowed his head slightly in acknowledgment.

"Since you're not going to stay out of trouble without me watching you, you're coming home."

"What? No way, I'm not a baby! I don't need to be watched!"

"Well kids who don't need to be watched don't end up breaking into places they don't belong."

"I didn't break in, I walked in and no one stopped me. Besides, their security isn't very good if they didn't catch me. There weren't even any guards! I would have made it if you didn't come ruin everything."

Kakashi chuckled again knowing the boy hadn't figured out that he had come to find him a long time ago and was tailing him while he was with Rin, nor that he followed him right through the front door and let the woman at the desk pretend not to see him. He had to find some amusement somewhere, considering he was a glorified babysitter nowadays. Occasionally he missed being out on a mission, a real mission, but more often than not the two imps he had guardianship of kept him on his toes.

"Well, I suppose that means you failed the mission then. You should look out for all sorts of distractions and obstacles," Kakashi teased, smiling down at the indignant child still trailing after him. It was good that his attention span was relatively short, it made it easy to distract him unless he was being particularly stubborn. Rin was stubborn on another level; if she set her mind to it there was rarely a time it was easy to talk her down. Moments like those required a more stern attitude to deal with. Naruto stuck out his tongue childishly, having no better argument to retort.

* * *

Rin had gone back to her room, assuring the team that she would be ok with a lot more trouble than she had thought. After promising at least a hundred times that if she needed them, she would ring the buzzer by the door, they let her go. It was endearing, yet annoying. The young girl didn't want anyone gawking over her as she attempted to have a conversation with the monster in her head. If it was anything like the ones she had before, she would end up sweaty, tired, and full of tears. The only reassurance was that they promised she wouldn't black out like last time. Then again, this would be the first time she actually started the conversation so perhaps it would be different. She wasn't holding her breath for it.

Sitting cross-legged on her bed, Rin frowned and scrunched up her nose before taking a deep breath. It took a few minutes for her to slow her heartbeat, as she chanted to herself silently, "I can do this."

" _ **U-um, Wolf-san?"**_

There was nothing but silence. Rin waited, and waited, and waited some more before she got impatient. He, or it rather, was ignoring her. She knew it could hear her. Puffing out her cheeks, she grumbled irritably.

" _ **Hey jerkface! Hello? I'm trying to talk to you, will you answer me?"**_

" **Silence whelp. I have no interest in you."** Rin's face scrunched up further.

" _ **No, wait, I have questions."**_

" **And what makes you believe I would answer them?"**

" _ **Because I'm supposed to remember right? I have a promise to keep, don't I? If you answer my questions, I can try to keep my promise?"**_

" **Pah, insolent little whelp!"** The voice cackled madly in her head, causing the young girl to wince at the volume reverberating in her mind. Nonetheless she steeled herself, ignoring his dodging.

" _ **What's your name? Where did you come from?"**_ The laughter continued; deep, whole bellied roars in the girl's ears drowned out everything else. She pouted, frustrated all the same. It was hard to get something to take you seriously when you had no method to do so. Perhaps she could annoy the being into submission much like it had done to her already. **_"Wolf-san, I can't keep my promise if you don't tell me what it was!"_**

" **Hn."** Was the only curt reply and Rin waited.

" _ **Please?"**_ She added quietly, hopefully, as if the being hadn't heard the majority of her pleas already. She just didn't want the silence to be prolonged. Patience was a virtue but it wasn't one of her strongest traits. _**"The people here want to help. They can get you out, maybe, and I'll try to keep the promise I made you. If I can..."**_

" **Rōen"** Rin gaped like a fish out of water before snapping her mouth shut, then opening it once more in confusion.

" _ **Huh?"**_ A growl echoed through her mind.

" **Are you dense whelp? My name is Rōen."** The girl blinked, feeling quite stupid in that moment. She wasn't expecting an answer so quickly, it would have been more likely that she would have to argue it out of the being in her mind.

" _ **Oh. Oh! That's a good name."**_

" **Save your useless chatter."** Rin closed her mouth, having been only seconds from saying something else to try and lightened the tense mood between the two of them. So far, she wasn't feeling the terrifying anger from the beast. Irritation was more like it. **"You say these humans can remove me from you? That is useful, perhaps I won't interfere. Are you aware of the ramifications of such an action little whelp?"**

" _ **Uhm, I… no?"**_ The small child hadn't been sure what the beast was trying to say to her.

" **Whelp, you will die. All the better for me; I am indifferent to the methods and outcome so long as I am free again."**

" _ **I'll die…? There's no other way?"**_

" **No."**

" ** _Oh."_ **Rin fell silent completely, biting her lip. This meant they wouldn't be able to fix her, wouldn't it? For a few moments she forgot her goal, her mind too busy mulling over the meaning of those words. She had subconsciously gotten her hopes up that everything would be ok soon; that the people of Konoha would fix her then she could be normal and live here. Crushed by those very hopes as they crumbled on her, Rin could feel her breathing quicken. The team was counting on her to gather as much information from the being as she could and yet she could feel herself falling apart from the inside. Before this moment, she hadn't realized how much she wanted to be free of the beast sealed inside of her. Perhaps the longing went back further than just when it began harassing her recently.

" ** _Are you a Bijuu?"_** Rin asked finally, willing herself back on task and narrowly escaping what might have been a pending panic attack.

" **I am not, whelp."** Rin sniffled, still trying to focus herself but for the five-year-old it was a near impossible task. Her mind kept wandering back.

" _ **Can I ask you some more questions later?"**_ A grunt was the only answer Rin received back and the voice went silent. Her breathing hitched, obstructed by the sniffles breaking through despite her attempts to control them. The little silver-haired child dashed from the room, hoping Tomone was still with the other team members in that room from before. Making her way down the hall, she burst through the door with a crash causing the people in the room to jump.

Tomone hurried to the small child's side, already trying to wipe away the tears that had streamed down the girl's face. Rin rubbed at her eyes furiously, trying to will the tears away. "What happened sweetie? Calm down, tell me what's wrong."

"I-I talked to him. He said his name is Rōen and h-he's not a Bijuu," Rin stuttered, trying to stop crying. "He said that you won't be able to take him out. H-he s-said I would...die."

Oh. So that's why she was a mess. It all made sense to the mint-haired woman now. Rin didn't want to die, of course, so she was naturally upset. She wrapped the girl in a hug, pulling her close. The blubbering little girl appreciated the comfort, snuggling close as she let her tears run their course reluctantly. Once the sobs mellowed out and her eyes could no longer produce tears she pulled away from the woman.

"Tomone-san? What am I supposed to do now?"

"We'll find a way sweetie," Tomone replied, rubbing Rin's back soothingly. "There's a lot we'll have to look into. Why don't you rest, it's been a hard day. There's always tomorrow. I'll bring you some dinner in a little while, okay?"

When Rin plodded out of the room, Tomone let out a tired sigh. Upon accepting the assignment, the woman knew going into this that it wouldn't be an easy task. She hadn't counted on becoming attached to the young girl; especially not as quickly as she did. Now the difficult task had grown exponentially worse and it hurt to see the little one so downtrodden by the bad news the rest of them had truthfully been expecting. After all, if it had been a Bijuu the only method to escape the beast would have been death. It not being a Bijuu might have brought some hope into removing it but with the new information that hope was dashed as well. Rin's only hope at a normal life would have to involve a much stronger seal on the being inside her but one could only speculate how long it would last. Without anything else to go on, they were fumbling around in the dark; any wrong move could kill Rin and unleash whatever she was housing on Konoha.

"Well this is a pickle," Nanami huffed, dropping into one of the chairs by a desk littered with papers. Tomone didn't appreciate the sentiment but said nothing to the younger brash woman.

"Who could even use a sealing jutsu strong enough to override this one and keep the beast in? Fuuinjutsu users are seemingly far and few between these days," chimed in another team member curiously.

"The Hokage would know but I suspect perhaps his student Jiraiya could do it, if I recall correctly he is well-versed in Fuuinjutsu. I can't think of another who knows something stronger than this basic sealing technique," the older man on the team added in, scratching his beard out of habit as he spoke.

"Well, I'll finish the report and bring it to the Sandaime. Ultimately the decision on who to bring in, if we should bring someone in, will be his," Tomone announced, settling herself into a chair as Nanami organized the rest of the report and brought it to her.

The mint-haired woman was nervous if only slightly. It wasn't that she doubted the Hokage's kindness but his job was to protect their village and to have its best interests at heart. If by some chance he or the council deemed Rin not worth the effort to save; they would be forced to eliminate or abandon her outside the village. The thought made the woman shudder and she willed it away forcefully, concentrating on writing the report. There was no way the Sandaime would be so cruel. Rin could be helped, she was sure of it. It didn't take her long to add the last bit of information to the already lengthy report, sealing the scrolls away from any prying eyes before standing.

"While I'm gone, research everything you can. We have to figure this out, for Rin-chan's sake."

A small chorus of voices, in varying degrees of eagerness, confirmed her command as she left the room and then soon the building. Tomone hurried down the road, making a beeline for the shortest route to the Hokage's office. Surely he would be wrapping up his day soon, aiming to head home for the night. She wanted to give him the report before then so perhaps they could find an answer to their problem as quickly as possible.

"Enter," the Sandaime instructed when the soft knock broke the silence in his office. He wasn't expecting anyone at the moment. In came Tomone trying her best to hide the worry spreading across her face. "What is it Tomone?"

"Rin-chan's report. We've finished a good majority of the testing. She's also made contact with the beast and gained some information from conversing with it. Seems we do not have another Jinchuuriki on our hands at least, however there's a bit of a problem."

"Oh?"

"Well, we still haven't found out _what_ it is exactly, only that it is not a Bijuu. Regardless, it has confirmed that we won't be able to remove it without killing the child and it goes by the name of Rōen. We were wondering if there was a Fuuinjutsu specialist who could reseal it so that it would not take over her will so easily? Unless another solution is possible?"

"Hm," the Sandaime hummed, taking a puff of his pipe. His face revealed nothing of his thoughts and Tomone waited eagerly to hear his opinion on the matter. "This Rōen is not a name familiar to me. I'll see what I can dig up after I finish reading the report. Dismissed."

"Yes sir," came her automatic reply. It was disappointing, if only slightly. She had hoped the Sandaime would share his thoughts now rather than later. Tomone turned to leave with a polite bow to the head shinobi. She was lost in thought the entire walk back.

* * *

"Kakashi-san?"

"Hm?"

"How come you're not even worried about how Rin-chan is doing?" Naruto pouted, sending the older male a sideways glare from the other side of the couch. He had perched himself there, periodically throwing similar questions at the ANBU-ranked teen. Kakashi had already returned to his book but with the barrage of questions he hardly read more than a few pages.

"Naruto, she hasn't even been gone a full day yet. She's in the care of medic-nin who specialize in odd cases. Why would I worry," Kakashi replied tiredly. Naruto wouldn't quit pestering him and if he would have been sure the boy wouldn't try to break into the building again he would have kicked him outside to get out of his hair. The silver-haired teen still wasn't sure why the boy seemed to think Rin was in danger, or that they were lying about her being released. When did his mistrust run so deep? Naruto only grumbled, letting himself fall back so that he was half hanging off of the couch haphazardly. Kakashi shook his head, ignoring the dramatic theatrics of the noisy five-year-old. "Unless I'm taken off of the mission, I am still her appointed guardian. If something comes up, besides the Hokage, I'll be the first to know. Does that make you feel better, Naruto?"

"Not really. But I guess it's better than nothing," Naruto mumbled in a bored manner, still hanging half off of the couch. Kakashi let it be, hoping he could continue to read without interruption for a while. It wasn't likely, Naruto's attention span was shorter than a newborn pup's, but one could hope.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading! I'm still looking for some constructive criticism, suggestions, etc.


	12. Chapter 11

Rescue Me  
By Jet Set Yoyo

Summary: Nineteen year old Kakashi wasn't exactly a happy person, not after everything he had been through, but he could at least say he was content with where he was in life at the moment. When a foreign Shinobi infiltrates Konoha in the dead of night Kakashi finds himself in an interesting position and everything in his life turns upside down. Bit of an AU but not quite.

A/N: Thank you so much to those who reviewed my last few chapters. Any feedback, good or bad, is always welcome. There's always room for improvement!

* * *

The sun peaked over the horizon, warming the chilly mid-winter air if only slightly. Kakashi stirred in his warm bed to the sound of a knock on his window, oblivious to the freezing temperatures outside. His one uncovered eye shot open, momentarily panicked by the disturbance, and found its way to the glass pane speckled with ice crystals. Otter knelt outside, patiently awaiting the teen's awakening. He was using a small steady stream of chakra to keep himself warm anyway. Slipping from the warmth of his covers Kakashi trudged to the window and slid it open, yawning loudly in protest.

"Summons from the Hokage, Kakashi-san," Otter reported, looking over the ex-ANBU with mild amusement before poofing away. The silver-haired teen suppressed a sigh, shivering from the frosty air before he closed the window again and immediately turned to get dressed. By the sounds of the loud snoring from the other room, he knew Naruto was still asleep. It was still early so he could step out without alerting the boy or worrying he would try to break into the medical building again in his absence. Moments later, one fully dressed Kakashi shunshined himself just outside the Hokage tower. It was only polite not to appear out of thin air inside the Hokage's office unless it was urgent. Even then most did only when called for before hand.

"Enter." Hiruzen commanded before the teen could even knock. The elder wasn't surprised to find the silver-haired boy yawning and quelled a chuckle. Seeing the slouched, half-asleep teen saunter into his office was a far cry from the emotionally unstable young teen he had been left with after the death of Minato. Hiruzen hadn't been sure what it was that gradually brought the boy back, if he even truly was, but the rule-abiding stoic teen was no more or less so at the very least. Back to business, he was positive Naruto was a handful for the lazy teen as it was. "Kakashi, as it stands I believe you might be the only one in the village at this moment who has some knowledge in Fuuinjutsu besides myself?"

"Eh, that might be true Hokage-sama. However, my knowledge is fairly limited as it is. I understand theory but I only have one Fuuinjutsu in my arsenal of jutsu's," Kakashi replied, frowning in thought. He could say without a doubt it wasn't an area of expertise, considering he was a direct combat type. "What about Jiraiya-sama? Is he still out of the village?"

"Hm. Yes he is and it would take far too long to locate him."

"Is this something urgent?" It didn't take a genius to realize what the Hokage was inquiring for but the teen hoped he was wrong.

"Urgent enough. I'm sure all parties involved would be more relieved if it was taken care of sooner rather than later. As you've probably guessed, this is about Rin-chan. Tomone gave the report to me last night. What resides inside of her is not a Bijuu but rather a being calling itself Rōen," Hiruzen sighed tiredly rubbing his temples with his index fingers. Kakashi frowned, trying to figure out if he had ever heard anything about that being. The name was not familiar. Hiruzen continued on without hesitation. "Her seal is but a simple one that is weakening even as we speak. Something else needs to be done before she loses control permanently. It will be detrimental for Konoha, the damage caused unfathomable, but we will lose little Rin-chan as well. I'm actually astounded Orochimaru would use such a low rank sealing jutsu for something of this caliber. My only assumption is that he intended for her to eventually lose control."

"So you want me to put a seal on top of the one she already has? Will that work," Kakashi questioned nervously, paling at the Hokage's words. This felt like deja vu and bile rose in his throat from the memories that haunted him for years. Would he even be capable of such a task? It didn't help that the little brat had picked the same damn name too. Catching hold of himself before he could fall into a mental downward spiral, Kakashi tried to focus on the old man's words. _Orochimaru intended for her to lose control._ The thought sickened him; both from the memories it stirred and the idea of a small child being used as a sacrificial pawn of war. Not that he was any different but this was supposed to be a time of peace and Hiruzen had moved to ensure that no more children would be sacrificed so easily.

"It's the only option we have right now. I fear if we wait for Jiraiya, provided we can even locate him quickly, that it will be too late. Her seal will break soon, that is guaranteed. Will you do this Kakashi?"

"Yes sir." The words caught in his throat but he forced them out as evenly as possible. Kakashi frowned deeply, not bothering to hide the worry plain on his masked face. Hiruzen sighed heavily once more, taking in the sight of the young shinobi before him. He really hadn't wanted to place this weight upon the boy but the situation left him with little choice. He could only hope Kakashi was strong enough to see it through.

"I realize this is a tremendous task I'm asking of you Kakashi. Have faith in yourself. Any seal is better than no seal. In the meantime I will attempt to reach Jiraiya. If need be, he can add another seal over it," the Hokage assured the teen. "Go to Tomone when you're ready. Sooner rather than later. Time is of the essence here Kakashi. She'll set up a room you can perform the sealing in, away from any prying eyes. We've still yet to find our little spy."

Kakashi nodded distantly, turning to leave the Hokage's office with heavy steps. The only sealing jutsu he knew was Fuuja Hooin and still that technique relied heavily on the willpower alone of the person holding the seal. If Rin's willpower faltered, that would be the end. It was risky; not nearly as much as waiting for Jiraiya but risky enough. It wasn't that he was nervous to perform it, only that Rin might not withstand the pain of the sealing nor have the willpower to maintain it for long.

He should have figured an early morning summons wouldn't have been a quick ordeal but since he would be going to Rin, the teen wouldn't have to worry about intercepting any more of Naruto's ill-planned rescue attempts. Really, he couldn't understand what was going through the boy's head sometimes. Before he knew it, Kakashi realized his feet had taken him to the memorial stone while his head was busy overthinking itself into tangents. He stood by the stone, feeling guilty he hadn't had the time to visit as often lately.

"Rin, Obito," he whispered with a tired voice sounding years older than what it should have been. At least no one else was ever there so he never had to hide the pain on his face or in his voice as he spoke to them; catching them up on everything they've missed in his life before he broke down and apologized over and over again for getting them both killed. His voice cracked when he spoke again, but he didn't care. "What am I supposed to do if I can't save her too?"

Kakashi went silent, as if the stone would speak to him. He knew it wouldn't and neither Rin nor Obito would ever get the chance to tell him their opinions again but sometimes it helped to imagine what they would do. What would Obito say to him right now? What would Rin tell him?

Rin would believe in him, he knew that much even if he never believed it himself. She would smile warmly, like she always did and tell him to do his best. That she would cheer him on and wish him the best. Obito would chastise him, or would he? Kakashi was no longer the stubborn, stoic boy he was when the Uchiha was alive. He had made a deliberate attempt to put Obito's nindou into his own persona to honor his fallen comrade. More so out of guilt than honor but it worked both ways. Secretly Kakashi had hoped that if he tried to be more like Obito, he could somehow prevent any more painful losses. Sometimes because of that he didn't know what the boy would have said to him if he could be here right now.

He couldn't dawdle so after fifteen minutes of pouring his fears out to the stone, Kakashi turned away with a whispered good-bye and hurried to the special medical building. The woman at the reception desk from the previous day greeted him with a nod before letting him know where to find Tomone, having already been alerted of his arrival.

"Kakashi-san, there you are. Rin-chan just woke up but she'll be ready soon. I'll go fetch her in a moment. First I'll show you to a room you can use where you won't be interrupted. The Hokage already sent word that you would be coming," the mint-haired woman greeted with a smile as soon as Kakashi walked through the door. She slipped past him and hurried down the hall a ways before unlocking another door, motioning for the teen to follow since he seemed to be stuck in a daze. "Come on then, I'm sure Rin-chan will be excited to go home soon. She's taken this like a trooper but I can tell she misses you and Naruto-kun. Plus I don't think being surrounded by machines and technicians has done much to calm her nerves about the whole ordeal but I suppose you might know her better than I would. You've been with her longer."

Kakashi almost winced visibly. He really didn't know Rin better than anyone, probably not even this woman who had taken care of her for barely two days. He never attempted, only observed her behavior to report back to the Sandaime. Tomone left Kakashi in the room, disappearing back into the hallway. The room was fairly empty, a couple folding tables and a few random chairs laid forgotten in the corner but the rest was bare. It would be plenty of space to perform the Fuuja Hooin, though he did hope they realized he would have to pierce the floor with several kunai in order to complete it. Minutes later Tomone returned with a sleepy-eyed Rin who rubbed at her eyes and yawned loudly.

"Alright, is there anything else you need Kakashi-san," Tomone inquired, peering over at the silver-haired teen. Fuuinjutsu wasn't her strong suit. She had studied it briefly but that was it. Truth be told she was worried for the young girl but this is exactly what she had asked the Hokage to do only she and the others hadn't realized Kakashi also knew Fuuinjutsu.

"No, I think we'll be alright."

Tomone pursed her lips, wanting to say something else. Even offer to stay in the room for Rin but thought better of it and reluctantly left the room, closing the door behind her. Kakashi glanced down at the little girl who was still yawning. He felt guilty and ran his hand through his hair while he decided how to start.

"Kakashi-san?" Rin interrupted his thoughts, blinking up at him.

"Hm?"

"Where's Naruto-kun?"

"Still sleeping I would think. I didn't want to wake him."

"Oh. So...am I going home? Tomone-san didn't say much, she usually tells me what we're doing but she just came to get me and told me you were here," Rin yawned again, slightly confused. It didn't make sense to the girl because they were in a weird empty room and Kakashi looked a bit off.

"No, not yet. I suspect after this you can but I'm here to put another seal on yours," Kakashi scrutinized her reaction, which wasn't much of one. Sometimes she could be so open, other times she didn't react at all. Right now she only stared and Kakashi took this as a cue to continue his explanation, "This is going to hurt but it will be quick. I need you to be tough until it's over. This seal is going to rely on your willpower. You're going to have to believe it will always hold the beast in. If you waver, it will break. Do you understand?"

Rin broke eye contact, no longer staring up at him but gazing off into the distance somewhere. The teen could practically see the gears of her brain moving as they tried to comprehend the weight of the task ahead of him. The little girl shifted from her half-asleep state, to one of concentration, then finally to a puzzled one.

"But it's going to fix me?"

"You're not broken," Kakashi admonished the child, unwilling to tell her he wasn't sure if his Fuuinjutsu would be strong enough to delay anything. It did enough to divert her attention. "But it should stop the harassment and prevent any hostile takeovers. The effects are largely unknown, I would think, considering this Rōen is not a being we know of. I need to know that you understand what we're about to do."

"Kind of. You're gonna put a seal on me that's gonna hurt but not for long. I just have to be brave until it's over and then I have to make sure that I don't think about the seal breaking, or it will break? Right?"

"In essence, I suppose that's close enough. Let's get this started then," Kakashi brandished a half dozen kunai from his pouch and threw them with expert precision in a circle on the floor. Sharpened and quickened by a burst of chakra, the kunai pierced the tile floor with a resounding crack. The teen led Rin into the middle by her shoulders. "I need you to sit here, then I need to see the seal."

Momentarily, it dawned on Kakashi that he had no idea where the seal was on her body. He paled, immediately embarrassed until she lifted the back of her shirt just enough to reveal the small of her back. There wasn't anything there at the moment, so it was a seal activated by chakra but otherwise hidden. It would have helped if he knew which low level Fuuinjutsu was used; then again he realized they probably hadn't figured that out yet. He pulsed a small amount of chakra into her to reveal the seal before slicing his thumb on one his canine teeth. In a swift, fluid motion the teen began writing a series of symbols around the seal before branching outwards throughout the entire circle. Before long the whole thing was littered with an intricate pattern of markings that Rin could only guess their meaning. She held still, afraid moving even an inch would mess it all up.

"Brace yourself," Kakashi commanded and Rin quickly stiffened, squeezing her eyes shut with anxious anticipation. The hand signs were formed quickly, a feat he was well versed in, before he pressed his palm to the seal and the entire room glowed brightly with chakra. Rin let out a gasp before pain overrode everything and she cried out. The symbols of the new seal began to reel inward from the six points at the edges of the circle but not quickly enough; Rin's cries deepened into screams of agony. Kakashi had to focus so as not to flinch at the sound. When the pattern rearranged itself in a circle around the old seal and the room no longer brightened by the glow of chakra, Rin collapsed on her side unable to withstand the pain long enough to stay conscious.

The ex-ANBU teen lifted the girl cradling her gently in his arms. One look at her face, still twisted in agony despite her unconscious state, renewed his guilt. He looked away when Tomone cracked open the door, partly from curiosity and partly from worry. When he nodded silently, she disappeared again.

"I'm sorry," Kakashi whispered and Rin cracked open one eye, still glistening with unfallen tears.

"Did I do it right," she croaked, her voice hoarse from overexertion. Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, giving one of her arms a gentle squeeze.

"Yeah," he replied, carrying the small child out of the room. Tomone and a few of the other technicians hovered in the hallway. Kakashi regarded them with a brief glance before passing, not in the mood to stay and chitchat about all the technical aspects of the jutsu. For good measure, he shot them a quick, "I'm taking her home." Not that they had minded, it was already intended for her to be released once the seal was in order though he hadn't known that for sure. Tomone had hoped to keep her another night just to be sure but judging by the sound of the entire ordeal and the state poor little Rin was left in, she wasn't going to press. She could check up on the girl another day.

Rin was too tired to do anything, it took most of her remaining energy to open her eyes as her guardian carried her away. Kakashi was right; it hurt a lot. Muscles and chakra paths she didn't know existed had burned and ached in a way that felt like someone had poured molten lava into her veins. It began as a tug towards her lower back and then the searing burning came soon after. The chubby-cheeked girl let her eyes wander over to Tomone as they passed the gaggle of technicians. Her arms wouldn't respond when she attempted to lift them in a half-hearted wave. Kakashi gripped her limp form a little tighter as he exited the building, walking briskly back in the direction of their home.

"Let's get home before Naruto gets himself into trouble, yeah?"

Rin let out a weak giggle, reduced to a coughing fit because her throat was now raw and sore. Kakashi winced, eyeing the girl sympathetically. A few nosy villagers stared as they passed; some with concern, others in confusion. Rin was too busy trying to stop her lungs from convulsing to notice and Kakashi didn't care enough to pay attention. He picked up his pace, half tempted to shushin the rest of the way back just to get her some water. She managed to calm her spasming lungs on her own before he really did dare to try it.

"It feels like I was gone forever," Rin mused with a smile. She couldn't wait to be back; even though Tomone and everyone were nice to her. The past day was full of stress and felt like it never ended.

"Naruto sure acted like you were. He tried to break into the building yesterday."

"He did? But why?"

"No idea," Kakashi replied nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders. He was only steps from the front door to the Hatake compound, about to reach awkwardly for the door while balancing the small child in his arms when it slid open with a loud clack. Naruto glared up at him from the other side, looking as though he had hastily gotten dressed. His blond hair stuck up oddly on one side, more so than usual.

"You just disappeared," he shouted indignantly, pointing a finger at him accusingly before catching sight of Rin in his arms. His face immediately melted into a wide grin, the anger gone in an instant. "Rin-chan! You're back!"

"Uh-huh," Rin chirped quietly but with enthusiasm, she didn't want to send herself into another coughing fit. Kakashi set her down gently, making sure she didn't collapse before he let her go. Rin still felt shaky but she was already beginning to feel better. She let the overexcited boy drag her by the wrist into the house, chattering loudly about how boring the day before was without her. Kakashi disappeared into the kitchen.

"Rin-chan, did they stop Wolf-san from bothering you?"

"Uhm, I think so."

"Great! Now you don't have to be scared anymore, right? And we can go to the academy soon. It's gonna be awesome!" Rin giggled, slightly cheered up by Naruto's optimistic outlook on the ordeal. She was still wary, unable to fully relax; Kakashi's words echoed in her mind. She couldn't lose her will, or the seal would break. There was no way she would let Rōen hurt Naruto or Kakashi. She couldn't let him. Naruto was already bouncing back over to the older male as he emerged from the other room. "Right Kakashi-san? We can go to the academy when spring comes?"

"I don't see why not," the teen replied, ruffling Naruto's hair as he passed him and held out a glass of water to Rin. "Drink this, it'll help with your throat."

"Rin-chan, are you sick?"

"No, my throat is just scratchy. I'm ok Naruto-kun," Rin spluttered quickly, her cheeks heated with embarrassment and guilt. She didn't want to tell him she got hurt while Kakashi was putting the seal on her. Like herself, Naruto was open but wary towards the older male and she didn't want him to think any less of their guardian.

"Don't push her, she needs to rest," chided Kakashi, already on his way into the sitting room. He had some paperwork to do and perhaps make his own attempt to contact the Sannin. Rin's seal was fickle and very temporary. If it failed before Jiraiya could make a more permanent one and he had to stop her before she could do damage to the village it would destroy every barricade he'd erected over his emotions all these years. Optimism wasn't in his nature and a sliver of fear took root in the back of his mind. The teen wondered if perhaps he should steel his nerves in the event he would have to be the one to end Rin's life; Naruto was here after all. He would likely be the first in the crossfire and Konoha could not lose its Bijuu. Kakashi couldn't lose his last connection to his sensei. He leaned back in the chair he had sunk into with a frustrated sigh, running a hand through his hair as Naruto's excited chatter and Rin's giggling floated to his ears from somewhere else in the house.

Kakashi's sharingan eye twitched, memories floated behind his eyes now glazed in a faraway stare. He saw Rin; he always saw Rin, _his_ Rin, in her final moments before his Chidori stole away her life. No other memories of the girl ever deigned to grace him with their presence since that day. Try as he might, he could only see the wide-eyed face of shock and relief, blood dripping from her mouth as she choked out his name one last time. This time the face distorted in front of him, little Rin in her place choking out his name with betrayal and fear etched across her features.

"Kakashi-san?" Kakashi was pulled back into reality, the pictures behind his eyes vanished and he turned to find Naruto looking perplexed. How long had he been there? The small boy snapped from his stupor and piped up again, "Are you ok? You're crying?"

"Dust. What's wrong Naruto?" Kakashi quickly wiped away the one tear that had managed to escape him.

"Rin says she feels ok, so can we go to the park," asked Naruto, eyeing the older male skeptically but made no fuss over the man's excuse.

"I don't-"

"Please Kakashi-san!" Rin had entered the room and chimed in chorus with the young blond. The two of them pulled together their strongest puppy-eye look, waiting hopefully. The teen couldn't help but chuckle lightly.

"That means I have to come with you. What am I getting out of this," Kakashi teased, crossing his arms across his chest. A mischievous glimmer shined in his eyes, or it could have been the remnants of tears still threatening to fall. The echoes of those memories always sat right behind his eyes, waiting to torment him when he least expected it. Naruto huffed while Rin pursed her lips, thinking of a reason. Kakashi only grinned, safely hidden behind his mask. "Well?"

"You get to read your books while we're out of your way for a while," her tone inclined towards the end, transforming her solid argument into an uncertain question. She canted her head, hoping the teen would agree.

"Maa, fine fine. Let's go then. You two will be the death of me."

"Yahoo!"

* * *

Later that night, after dinner was finished and everyone had settled in. Rin felt that fear creep back. Rōen hadn't tried to talk to her since she had asked him all those questions but she wasn't sure if it was because Kakashi's seal was holding him back or that the beast in her head had nothing to say to her. She didn't want to start a conversation, fully enjoying the silence, but the anticipation was making her anxious. The small girl wasn't looking forward to bed but the hour she would have to sleep was fast approaching. She could try to stay up the whole night but she was already far too exhausted to make it much longer. Her anxiety only worsened as Naruto drifted to sleep, draped across the couch and also Kakashi, snoring lightly.

Eventually Kakashi could ignore Rin's fidgeting no longer, carefully scooping up Naruto and disappearing to deposit the boy into his own bed. It didn't help that he had long lost feeling in the arm and leg that had been trapped underneath the child who seemed not to understand any semblance of personal space. Once he returned, he plopped himself down casually beside the worried girl and pretended to go back to his reading.

"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you, or you going to tear a hole into your shirt?"

Rin looked up, only faintly aware that Kakashi was actually talking to her; too lost in her own downward spiral of thoughts. She shifted her gaze to her lap in shame. Kakashi only waited, not willing to press to far. He was pretty sure he got the gist of what was bothering her without her having to tell him.

"I'm afraid. I don't want to go to bed," she admitted vaguely, unsure if voicing her wariness would count as losing her will. Now that she thought about it, how exactly would she lose her will? She didn't get it at all. Did she already lose it because she was so distracted by all the different ways Rōen could take over and hurt the people she cared about? Kakashi would be disappointed if he knew.

Kakashi sensed the internal debate, nodding silently as she spoke. He waited for a few moments. When he was sure Rin had nothing else to add he spoke gently, "You have nothing to be afraid of. You said you don't want to hurt us, or anyone right? Remember that as a promise then. That is your will. Go to bed, you'll be just fine."

"Promise?"

"I promise." He really shouldn't but in that moment it was all he could do to quell the tsunami of uncertainty in the poor girl. "I'm going to check in with the Hokage in the morning. If you two are awake and ready, you can come. Perhaps you two can even ask him about the academy."

"Mmkay. G'night Kakashi-san," Rin mumbled sleepily. Though she felt a bit better Kakashi's words didn't serve to dismiss all of her fears. It would be enough though, she would make it be enough to get her through the night. On her way out she turned briefly, Kakashi already back in his book looking equally tired or perhaps just bored. "Thank you."

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A/N: Thanks for reading guys. Sorry this chapter was much harder to write than I thought. I started out strong and then felt like I ran out of things to add. I didn't want to push and throw in filler junk to make it longer but I didn't want it to be so pathetically short. Ended up sitting on it for a few days to clear my head until I unstuck myself. I'm not too happy with it but it was better that what I originally had. Reviews would be lovely~


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